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Scottish Premiership: Why early-season data points to style shift

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Regardless, the success stories at Motherwell and Falkirk have clearly had an influence.

Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin was humble enough to reveal that Askou – now head coach at Toulouse in Ligue 1 – has inspired him to change his ways after more than 15 years as a player and manager in Scotland.

Goodwin’s side are one of a number of Premiership teams to have undergone a stylistic shift this term, and that is reflected in the league’s overall numbers, albeit the sample size remains small after just seven matches for each club.

Compared with the previous five Scottish top-flight seasons, passes per game have soared to 886. That is an increase of 58 on last term. Five years ago, the average was 795.

Passing accuracy is also at a high of 81%, which is quite a remarkable increase on the 73% recorded in 2023-24.

That is down to more short passing. The percentage of long passes across the league (13%) is now at its lowest level of the past five years. Perhaps surprisingly, Hearts and Rangers go long more than any other teams.

Goodwin’s United, meanwhile, have gone from average possession of 42% last term to 50% this season. Their accurate passes per match have rocketed from 219 to 320.

It is a similar story for St Mirren under Craig McLeish and Neil McCann’s Kilmarnock, while league leaders Celtic and Alfred Johansson’s Motherwell are locked at the top of the possession chart on 61%.

The promotion of St Johnstone back into the league, replacing Livingston, has added another side who aim to play a more expansive brand.

The recent appointment of Dutch head coach Marink Reedijk at Hibernian will only enhance that.

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Women’s World Cup 2027: How can England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland qualify?

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England did not want to go through the play-offs but were given an unkind draw in the qualifying groups when they met world champions Spain.

However, Wiegman’s side are in a strong position for the play-offs and will fancy their chances against Greece, who sit 55 places beneath them in the Fifa world rankings.

England also beat potential round two opponents Ukraine in both matches in the qualifying group stage, with an aggregate 9-1 score.

Northern Ireland face a tricky tie against a talented young squad from Portugal in round one. Portugal twice beat Northern Ireland in Euro 2025 qualifying.

Their task gets even harder if they make it through to round two, with potential opponents Iceland proving to be difficult to break down in their matches against England this year.

Scotland are hoping to reach just their second Women’s World Cup finals, after a 2019 appearance. They failed to qualify in 2023 but have performed well this year, including drawing with Belgium, showing that they can compete with Europe’s strongest teams.

They would need to produce their best in round two if they meet big-hitters Sweden, who have been semi-finalists in the past two Women’s World Cups.

Wales have never beaten a top-20 ranked nation in a competitive fixture and are likely to need to do so to qualify.

There is optimism, though, as Rhian Wilkinson’s side thrashed play-off opponents Albania 4-0 in their qualifying group.

Elsewhere, having performed superbly in qualifying, the Republic of Ireland have a tough play-off route with Belgium potentially waiting in round two.

First, Carla Ward’s side will have to navigate a 3,100-mile trip to Kazakhstan, to tackle relatively unknown opposition.

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Bucs vs. Cowboys odds, picks, predictions for Thursday Night Football

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Can Tampa Bay find its first win of the season in Dallas? All of our analysts are on the same side of this one — find out which.

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MLB Division Series results: Scores, highlights and playoff takeaways from Wednesday

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MLB’s 12-team postseason field has now been shrunk even further, with three teams, including both NL clubs, advancing to the CS round.

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