Joe Soriano, Author at The Trivela Effect

What can we expect from Gio Reyna at Borussia Monchengladbach?

29Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

What can we expect from Gio Reyna at Borussia Monchengladbach?

There's nothing American football (wait, sorry, soccer) fans love more than hyping up one of their own, and finally, in the 2020s there have been a slew of young American footballers actually worth hyping up. Most of them found their first foothold in the Bundesliga, and with the success of Christian Pulisic, who would bag a Champions League trophy at Chelsea before becoming an even better player for AC Milan, there's been no shortage of fans scouring the German top flight for the next big thing in the USMNT. It was only natural, then, for the next big American talent at Borussia Dortmund, Gio Reyna, to be the next vict- I mean, uh, subject of the hype machine that is the entirely niche - and mostly stupid - so-called "mainstream" American soccer punditry. I call them "mostly stup...

29Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

How good is Jorgen Strand Larsen?

As Newcastle do their best to hold onto Alexander Isak thinking that making a "statement" - whatever that means - is worth keeping around a notoriously moody player who clearly doesn't want to be at the club, they are still doing their due diligence to sign a striker to replace Isak, should he end up moving to reigning Premier League champions Liverpool anyway. Isak was the best striker in the Premier League last season, so it's only natural for Newcastle fans and everyone else to wonder how far the downgrade will go to the next No. 9. Yoane Wissa scored 19 goals for Brentford alongside newly-minted Manchester United signing Bryan Mbeumo, and he's on Newcastle's radar despite doing what is essentially a harsher version to Brentford of what Isak is doing to Newcastle. The latest st...

Premier League Power Rankings: Every Big 6 defense from worst to first in 2025/26

29Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Premier League Power Rankings: Every Big 6 defense from worst to first in 2025/26

I'm not sure how much the American football saying "defense wins championships" holds true in world football, but it seems pretty appropriate when you look at the difference between teams that were and were not successful in the title races last season. For example, Napoli won Serie A against the odds over one of the best striker tandems in European football in Inter Milan with only Romelu Lukaku as a true standout forward. And they did so because they were so organized defensively and structurally under Antonio Conte. In the Premier League, Manchester City fell out of the Premier League title race entirely because their defense was no longer a stalwart engine, as they clearly suffered from Rodri's torn ACL. Liverpool and Arsenal, meanwhile, had the best defenses in the league. So...

Why Manchester United is so bad year after year

28Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Why Manchester United is so bad year after year

If you are reading this article, I assume you are an intelligent football fan, because I don't know of many blithering idiots who stumble onto The Trivela Effect. No, no, usually those trolls end up somewhere like Diario Gol or Don Balon while they fiddle with their dial-up connection. Because you are an intelligent football fan, you acknowledge that Manchester United are indeed bad. Very bad. In fact, they are so horrendous that it almost defies belief that a club that has given the world so many of the finest footballers of all time - Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidic, David Beckham, Eric Cantona, Bobby Charlton, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, George Best, Denis Irwin, Roy Keane...OK I'll stop now - could be such an abject failure in 2025. It has been more than a decade sin...

The 5 best Real Betis players you need to know for the 2025/26 season

27Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

The 5 best Real Betis players you need to know for the 2025/26 season

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a bigger club that still gets treated like a small club than Real Betis. Year after year, they are in the hunt for Champions League football, and just last year, they made it to the Conference League Final against Chelsea. Some of the biggest legends of Spanish football have come through Betis, such as Joaquin, and reigning Champions League winner Fabian Ruiz actually got his first breakout with Real Betis...alongside a certain Real Madrid center midfielder by the name of Dani Ceballos. Real Betis have designs on making it back to the Champions League this season, but who are the main protagonists leading the charge after the Verdiblancos finished sixth in the league last season? I'll take you through the five players I think you should kno...

Premier League Power Rankings: The 10 best U21 players for the 2025/26 season

27Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Premier League Power Rankings: The 10 best U21 players for the 2025/26 season

Even though it's been just two games, the 2025/26 Premier League campaign is already giving us the impression that this is going to be a season written by the young stars of the league. And I'm not just talking about players who are indeed young but are already established Premier League superstars like Erling Haaland, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Martin Odegaard, and now Florian Wirtz. No, I'm talking about players who haven't even turned 21 years old yet or are just teenagers, already scoring decisive goals and shining for some of the Premier League's biggest clubs. So with the 2025/26 Premier League campaign now fully under way, let's preview the youngsters who could have a big say on the final table, ranking the top 10 U21 players in English football right now. 10. Arsenal LB My...

Champions League Power Rankings: The 5 most likely first-time winners

24Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Champions League Power Rankings: The 5 most likely first-time winners

The usual suspects are the favorites to win the 2025/26 Champions League, with reigning champions PSG joining the holy trinity of Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Real Madrid, as well as last year's Premier League winners Liverpool, as the top five favorites to conquer European football this season. However, what's just as interesting is talking about which teams could break through and win their first Champions League title in history. And not all of those teams are underdogs, as sides like Atletico Madrid that have been regulars or Premier League title contenders Arsenal are also among the list of teams still seeking their first taste of the very summit of European football. Perhaps the 2025/26 Champions League season will be the one that gets one of these historic clubs off the schne...

Champions League Predictions: Biggest threat to win title from each top 5 league in 2025/26

23Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Champions League Predictions: Biggest threat to win title from each top 5 league in 2025/26

The 2025/26 Champions League season is still in its play-off stages for another week, but on Aug. 28, those matches will end and the league phase will be finalized, setting in motion the start of the second campaign in this new format. PSG finally conquered European football last season in their first one without superstar Kylian Mbappe - or Neymar for that matter - following a more team-oriented approach under Luis Enrique. They will no doubt be the favorites again this season, but as in any year, the field is wide open with so many great contenders around European football. Before the 2025/26 Champions League campaign truly gets underway in mid-September with the first league phase matches, let's start with some predictions. Some leagues are more clear-cut than others - looking ...

Ranking the 5 best teenagers in European football for the 2025/26 season

19Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Ranking the 5 best teenagers in European football for the 2025/26 season

It's not easy to step right in and be a star in one of the top five leagues in European football before you've turned the age of 23, let alone before turning the age of 21...or 20, for that matter. Lamine Yamal's success at Barcelona may be leading some to unrealistic expectations of what young players can do, because the 18-year-old's success in his first two seasons as a full-time starter - and Barca's most crucial player on a team filled with stars - has been nothing short of extraordinary. Not even the two GOATs, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, were playing at this level before they even became legal adults. But for the most part, the wider world of football fans understand both how special Yamal is and how difficult it is for anyone to even start at the highest levels of Eur...

Is Dusan Vlahovic overrated or underrated? Why the striker has flopped at Juventus

18Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Is Dusan Vlahovic overrated or underrated? Why the striker has flopped at Juventus

Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic is heading into the final year of his contract with the Bianconeri, and as the club negotiates to keep Randal Kolo Muani for longer from PSG and welcomes incoming free agent striker Jonathan David, the transfer rumors surrounding Vlahovic's own future continues to swirl. But the old rumors linking him to giant clubs like Premier League title contenders Arsenal have waned, and as Juve continue to toil away from the true Serie A title race, Vlahovic's own transfer has, likewise, taken a significant hit. The on-and-off again contract and transfer talks have now yielded a clear reality, and that is the fact that Vlahovic is in a make-or-break year at Juventus. He either blows up and earns a long-term future at the club he chose to join a few years ago, or ...