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Player Analysis: Nicolas Pépé vs. Southampton
It’s fair to say that Nicolas Pépé’s sequel season at Arsenal has hardly set the Premier League alight, managing only four starts (prior to Southampton) with the majority of minutes played as a substitute. Whilst, his league minutes dwindled Pépé continued to graft in the Europa League, contributing with two goals and two assists in…
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Player Analysis: Charles De Ketelaere
Perhaps the biggest surprise package of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League group stage was Club Brugge, who finished third in Group F with 8 points. The Belgian side came within one game of advancing to the Champions League knockout round, only to draw to Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico, and they will instead face off…
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Player Analysis: Darwin Núñez
On the origin of species, in footballing terms at least; tall, aerially shrewd strikers would serve such purpose: stay central, saunter into dangerous areas, score and assist goals. Since the turn of the century, Didier Drogba and Robert Lewandowski have both mastered that purpose, phasing it into the modern game so proficiently. But in the…
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Manchester United’s Struggles in Set-Pieces
On January 6, Manchester City eliminated Manchester United from the EFL Cup semi-finals, taking a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford via two goals from set-pieces which were converted by John Stones and Fernandinho, and booking their ticket for the Final at Wembley against Tottenham Hotspur. Three weeks later, Manchester United lost at home to bottom-dwellers…
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Player Analysis: Syahrian Abimanyu
Over the past few years, Indonesia has produced a wide variety of promising attacking midfielders and wingers. The list ranges from 20-year-old Egy Maulana Vikri, currently plying his trade at Ekstraklasa side Lechia Gdańsk, 19-year-old Witan Sulaeman, playing at Serbian SuperLiga side Radnik Surdulica, and 21-year-old Todd Rivaldo Ferre, who recently joined Thai League 2…
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The Curious Case of Paul Pogba
On the eve of one of Manchester United’s biggest games of the season, Mino Raiola sent the football world into a frenzy when he came out with a statement that said his client, Paul Pogba, wanted out of the club at the nearest opportunity. In typical fashion, the World Cup winner had the spotlight on…
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Data Analysis: Donyell Malen
After last season’s disappointing fourth-place finish, PSV Eindhoven are back in the race for the Eredivisie title, currently sitting four points behind league leaders Ajax. Roger Schmidt’s side have mounted a serious title challenge on the back of a treasure trove of youngsters, including Mohamed Ihattaren (18), Ibrahim Sangaré (23), and Noni Madueke (18), but…
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The Factors Behind Alex Iwobi’s Resurgence at Everton
When Everton paid Arsenal an initial fee of £28 million for Alex Iwobi on August 8, 2019, plenty of eyebrows were raised; the general perception was that they overpaid, and rightly so. Iwobi at the time was a 23-year old squad player for Arsenal, with flashes of talent here and there but no real consistency…
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What Makes Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid So Good Defensively?
As Eibar’s goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović fired a penalty past Jan Oblak, many seemed to forget it was only the 7th goal Atlético Madrid have conceded this season. Diego Simeone’s momentous mix of tactical preparedness and sheer willpower has Atlético renowned for their defensive strength, but averaging 0.41 goals conceded per game this season is beyond…
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Player Analysis: Bright Osayi-Samuel
Right-footed right-wingers are a bit of a dying breed in football these days. The current generation of young footballers grew up watching the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Arjen Robben cut in from their weak side and curl a shot to the far post; it’s almost become an expectation that wingers play on the opposite…
