Back of The Net: some of the finest footy things we've spotted this week by Aaron› 21 Sep 2012

Three weeks in a row, this must be some sort of record, surely? A hat-trick of Back Of The Nets, a rarity in modern football! The football season has really felt like it's got into full flow this week, with important games on every night, exciting results and a few dodgy decisions thrown in for good measure. We've also dug up some top football-related stuff online to keep you distracted until the weekend kicks in, and you can start to look forward to even more football action...

We've pictured that classic England goalkeeper shirt at the top of the page in celebration of a great site we've seen for those of you who like to stand Between The Sticks. Full of interesting stats and stories about goalkeepers, Between The Sticks is a great place for picking up a couple of facts to impress your friends with. Want to know how goalkeeper's shirts developed and the reasons behind their particular designs? You should probably read this article then, which traces the history of keeper's kits.

From one end of the pitch to the other, we now shine a light on another impressive infographic from On Goals Scored, the one-man design team behind some of our favourite graphic creations. Using stats from the last Premier League season, On Goals Scored has created this great graphic depicting exactly how the top strikers scored their goals. Like all the best infographics, it looks great and also reveals some interesting information, which can be used here to argue exactly why one player is better than the other. Check it out here.

Football matches are a prime location for letting your feelings about certain players known, but even then there's probably still some things you'd like to keep to yourself - a sneaky admiration for the opposition centre-forward perhaps? A Tumblr page that we've discovered helps to provide a safe place for revealing such sins, allowing supporters to voice their Confessions About Football. They range from the silly to the serious, and offer some positive evidence that football isn't 100% angry, 100% of the time.

Over the past 18 months or so, football has provided plenty of inspiration to print publications, with the likes of Green Soccer Journal, The Blizzard and Stand Against Modern Football all showing that there's plenty of different ways to discuss the beautiful game on paper. The latest addition to this particular genre is dedicated to football on the other side of the Atlantic, and it also has a strong presence online. XI - A North American Soccer Quarterly takes a serious look at football action in the USA, and their Tumblr gives a great preview of this fine looking publication. We can't wait to see a copy in the flesh as well!

Finally this week, we've saved our favourite thing that we've discovered over the past week. As a sport, football must be one of the most cliché-riddled sports, with players regularly over the moon or sick as a parrot, managers avoiding the sack race and everyone giving it 110%. Thankfully, Football Clichés is now here to keep a track on these things, and to spot the most glaring examples. On Twitter and their website, Football Clichés are fantastic at pricking football's self important bubble, capturing some of the games particular absurdities with relish. Take a look at their site, and keep your eyes and ears peeled for any #FootballCliches that you can spot over the weekend!

Category:
Football Stories