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Tactical Analysis: VfL Wolfsburg 2020/21 Season
Three years after winning the DFB-Pokal and finishing second in the Bundesliga, VfL Wolfsburg found themselves in the relegation play-offs at the end of the 2016/17 season. They defeated Eintracht Braunschweig to retain their place in Germany’s top flight, but despite bringing in the likes of Divock Origi, Ignacio Camacho and John Brooks, they found…
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Football Clubs and Their Biggest Sponsorship Deals
Sponsorship in football is integral in the modern era of the sport. These deals that clubs make with their financial backers enable them to operate more freely in the transfer market, and they also help to turn a football team into a brand, which is recognisable in many countries around the world. Companies that sponsor…
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The Rise and Fall of Sead ‘The Tank’ Kolašinac
“When you see the quality of his performance again, you see there are still some good deals to make out there. [He has been a success] because he has the natural qualities that suit firstly his position as a wing-back and, secondly, because he has the absolute body power that is needed in the Premier…
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Florian Wirtz Is the Best Player You’re Not Watching
On October 15, 2016, Kai Havertz became Bayer Leverkusen’s youngest ever Bundesliga debutant at 17 years and 126 days old. Over the next three and a half years, Havertz would solidify his status as one of the biggest talents in Europe, leading Die Werkself to a fourth-place finish in 2018/19 before departing for Chelsea in…
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The Liverpool Defenders Who Can Step up in the Club’s Injury Crisis
The news from the England international camp that Joe Gomez had suffered a serious injury came as a hammer blow to everyone associated with Liverpool FC. After all, the last thing the club needed was another defensive injury, with Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho and Trent Alexander-Arnold already sidelined. Manager Jürgen Klopp made the decision…
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Tactical Analysis: Lille vs. Milan
Three weeks after grabbing a commanding 3-0 victory at the San Siro, Christophe Galtier’s Lille welcomed Milan to the Stade Pierre-Maupoy for Matchday Four of the UEFA Europa League group stage. Despite recording 13 shots in comparison to their Italian opponents’s four shots, Les Dogues were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw that saw them…
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Player Analysis: Yusuf Yazıcı
Ever since he broke into the first team at Trabzonspor, I have been a big fan of Yusuf Yazıcı. That feels strange given we were born in the same year, but you don’t want to hear much more about me. I can’t blame you, as Mr Yazıcı is undeniably far more exciting. To start…
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Player Analysis: Wilfred Singo
Youth versus experience. A team near the bottom of the league table against a team fighting near the top end. Inter should have defeated Torino comprehensively when the two sides faced each other in Serie A recently but it was a struggle for the Nerazzurri. One of the unlikely battles that took place during…
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Vitesse’s Improbable Title Charge
It’s the best start in Vitesse Arnhem’s 128-year history. They’ve lost one in eleven and sit second in the Eredivisie, just two points behind Ajax. But they also have a 37-year-old technical director with no experience in the role and a manager that has been sacked from his last two jobs. So how have Vitesse…
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Player Analysis: Tanguy Ndombélé
By the summer of 2016, Tanguy Ndombélé’s chances of becoming a top-level footballer were slowly fading away. Born and raised in the Parisian suburbs to Congolese parents, Ndombélé had moved to Guingamp, at 14 years of age, but he was forced to depart Brittany after being denied a professional contract. He joined Amiens after the…
