Articles
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Spezia’s Remarkable Return to Serie A
La Spezia is a city that is not well known for its sporting prowess or great historical sites, and it is better known as a transport hub, especially for tourists who travel to the colorful villages of Cinque Terre. The city has the second-largest population in the Liguria region after Genoa and it is…
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From the Board to the Pitch: What Football Can Learn from Chess
You play football with your mind, and your legs are there to help you. – Johan Cruyff. The above quote was uttered from football’s seminal leader, the unofficial king of the modern game, Johan Cruyff, and it may just be the most important of his innumerable, incessantly quoted adages. If we take the…
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Fulham Learning From Their Previous Mistakes
Fulham’s last spell in the Premier League wasn’t long ago. They earned promotion from the Championship via the playoffs in the 2017/18 campaign but were subsequently relegated twelve months later after finishing nineteenth in the top flight. Their struggle to survive due to poor recruitment, something Scott Parker is eager not to repeat this time…
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Player Analysis: Ferran Torres
With Leroy Sané’s contract entering its final 12 months and the German demanding a transfer to Bayern Munich, Manchester City were forced to sell their star winger to the Bavarian side for a fee potentially rising to €60 million. City were forced to act fast to secure a Sané replacement — and they decided to…
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How Atalanta Use Their Center Backs in Possession
Playing three centre backs is often presented rather superficially as defensive system, as many anticipate it will manifest itself as a back five: subtracting either a midfielder or a forward in favour of a defender. However, many teams such as Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta use the extra cover provided by a back three to allow…
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Why Rodrigo Moreno is a Perfect Fit for Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds
“Rodrigo Moreno to Leeds. The forward of the Spanish team is going to a newly promoted [team] in England. To gain perspective: it is as if Harry Kane signs for Elche,” wrote former footballer Alberto Edjogo-Owono on social media. After a lengthy exile from the top flight, Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites sent out a statement…
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Finding a Casemiro Backup
On July 27, 2019, Casemiro was set to board a flight from São Paulo to Orlando, where he had aimed to spend a week vacationing in Disney World with his mother, sister, wife, and daughter. After a trying campaign that saw him win Copa América with Brazil and suffer the worst season of his Real…
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Where is Bukayo Saka’s Best Position?
Over the past few seasons, Arsenal have lacked the attacking guile from wide areas which their adversaries flaunt in abundance. While the interminable links to Thomas Lemar and Wilfried Zaha suggest the club have reportedly tried to resolve this issue, the Gunners appear to have stumbled upon one of their own in Bukayo Saka. …
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Ashley Williams: Liberia’s Exciting Young Goalkeeper
When you think of Liberia, you think of George Weah, one of its greatest sons. A legendary footballer who shone in Europe during a highly decorated career which included him becoming the first and only African player to win the coveted Ballon D’Or in 1995. Since his heyday, Liberia have not produced any players as…
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Neymar: The Star Too Far
8 minutes. The insignificance of human beings is signified by the fact the Sun you look at was actually the Sun 8 minutes prior. Such is the distance between the Earth and the Sun that light cannot travel in the usual instance we are accustomed to, like when we flick a switch and it immediately…
