The Blueprint: What is PascalBall?

Introducing a new podcast offering from the New York Soccer Journal: The Blueprint, with hosts John Baney, who you know from The Soccer Journal Podcast, and Trey Fillmore, who you know from the Blue Balls NYCFC podcast. Each episode of The Blueprint tackles a single topic and dives deep on that topic. These topics might relate to New York City FC, or they might be storylines of note from elsewhere in Major League Soccer or from across the wider soccer landscape. In this inaugural episode, John and Trey tackle the question: How do you define Pascal Jansen Ball? They go over the philosophies and tactical principles that guide the New York City FC coach as he sets up his team, from his pressing system to his preferences for patient build-up play and wide overloads. Talk of Jansen's style and approach leads into a discussion of how to explain New York City FC's poor early-season league form in 2026, which has been plagued by late-game collapses and costly concentration lapses. In the end, you get a comprehensive review of Pascal Jansen the coach, tracing his path and progression from the PSV Eindhoven youth system and his tenure with AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, to his stint with Ferencváros in Hungary, and then to this present moment here with NYCFC in MLS. Listen to the full episode above or on Apple, Spotify, or Bleav, and be sure you're subscribed to The Soccer Journal Podcast on your preferred podcast feed of choice as we begin to roll out more episodes of The Blueprint in the weeks to come. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.