The real mystery about Ted Lasso: why does it work?

Hannah Waddingham (who plays club owner Rebecca Welton) and Juno Temple (“Keeley Jones”) seem pretty amazed by their characters’ lack of consistency too. Photo copyright Apple PR, used under licence.

Let me admit: Ted Lasso puzzles me. In case you don’t know, it’s a new series on Apple TV+ (Apple’s paid streaming service), starring Jason Sudeikis as an American football (ie gridiron) coach who is hired to coach a Premier League football (soccer) team in the UK.

When I say that Ted Lasso puzzles me, I mean two things. First, I don’t know why it works, yet it does. And a…