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The Best Defensive Midfielders of the 2019/20 Premier League Season
The role of a defensive midfielder in a game of football is often termed as a sitting role, meaning the players who play in this position sit in front of the team’s defense and screen the passes (and of course do a lot more than that). A defensive midfielder usually plays in a double…
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Portugal 1986: Part 2: The Saltillo Affair
Portugal’s preparations for the 1986 World Cup had so far been a shambles. An incorrect doping test, poor training facilities, unpaid bonuses and inadequate warm up opposition in the form of hotel and bar workers. Such amateur preparations led to growing frustration among the players and it all came to a head on the 25th…
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The Fall and Rise of Leeds United
The stars of Leeds United dropped on their feet as referee Urs Meier blew up for the final time. Around them, Valencia fans rejoiced as the sun set over the famous Mestalla pitch. Having mustered a stalemate in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal, they were torn apart at the seams by…
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Tactical Analysis: Flamengo vs. Atlético Mineiro
The 2020/2021 Brasileirão Série A season kicked off on Saturday night and the highlight fixture of Matchday 1 was the match between Flamengo and Atlético Mineiro at the Maracanã Stadium. The Alvinegro went on to beat the defending champions in a fixture that lacked its predicted galore of goals, but certainly not a lack of…
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Scouting Report: Konstantinos Tsimikas
Yesterday, Konstantinos Tsimikas was announced as Liverpool’s first signing of the summer 2020 transfer window, the first ever transfer window in which the Reds have been reigning Premier League champions. Liverpool agreed to pay £11.75 million for the Olympiakos man after failing to negotiate a fee for Norwich City’s Jamal Lewis. He’s already impressed…
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A Data-Based Analysis of How Jadon Sancho Would Fit at Manchester United
With the transfer rumours linking Jadon Sancho to Manchester United intensifying, how he would fit in at Old Trafford is fast becoming one of the most relevant questions in world football. This question gains further weighting given that the agreed transfer fee is likely to be north of £100 million. For a fee that…
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Tactical Analysis: Ivan Jurić’s Hellas Verona
Hellas Verona was one of the surprise packages of the 2019/20 Serie A season and one of the main reasons for its overachievement was its coach Ivan Jurić. The former Crotone and Genoa tactician was appointed days after the Gialloblu had earned promotion through the Serie B play-offs under caretaker manager Alfredo Aglietti in 2019,…
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10 Italy Players Who Could Benefit from the Euros’s Postponement
With less than 10 months away from the start of Euro 2020, postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, European teams are starting to put together their squads. The month-long football extravaganza is set to kick off on 11th June at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome with Italy playing Turkey. Since his appointment…
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An Analytical Look at Bruno Fernandes in Possession
When Manchester United completed the signing of Portuguese international Bruno Fernandes during the final hours of the January transfer window, they found themselves in desperate need of a playmaker who could awaken a team that had been sleepwalking through the first half of the season. Paul Pogba, United’s chief midfield creator, had missed the…
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Diego Martínez: The Messiah of Granada
The city of Granada is renowned for a variety of things — the medieval Arab citadel known as the Alhabrama, the Flamenco dancers, the bull-fighting, the pomegranates — but football isn’t one of them. Since the club’s founding in 1931, Granada CF have yo-yoed back and forth the top three divisions of the Spanish…
