Articles
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The Transfer Market post-Covid 19: The Art of the Swap Deal
The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated football clubs’ finances, forcing clubs to tighten their pursestrings and put off big-money transfers until next summer. Under normal circumstances, Europe’s elite clubs would be readying the accounts for a summer spree, calling agents, working on potential deals, and so on. However, the current financial and footballing climate is anything but…
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How Dimitri Payet Resurrected France from the Ashes of Terrorism
As France lay in a state of shock following several high-brow terrorist attacks, Dimitri Payet reinvigorated the nation by propelling Les Bleus to the final of Euro 2016. By way of his immense trickery and illustrious set-pieces, Payet produced a plethora of fantastic moments to inspire a nation in what has been described as arguably…
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Football and the Indian Subcontinent
Football is the most famous sport on the planet with over 4 billion estimated fans. However, it plays second fiddle in Asia, where Cricket reigns supreme as the primary sport of choice. As the second most sport in the world, Cricket boasts 2.5 billion viewers, many of whom come from South Asian countries such as India, Sri…
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How Hansi-Dieter Flick Brought the Magic Back to Bayern
When Hansi-Dieter Flick was appointed as Bayern Munich’s interim manager in November, there was a widely hheld view that he was merely warming the seat for a higher calibre coach going into this summer, with Mauricio Pochettino and Massimiliano Allegri potentially waiting in the wings. Fast forward six months, Flick is the first Bayern manager…
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Tactical Analysis: Hertha Berlin vs. RB Leipzig
On Wednesday, Hertha Berlin visited RB Leipzig at an empty Red Bull Arena on the 28th Matchday of the Bundesliga season. With Dortmund’s 1-0 defeat against Bayern on Tuesday, Leipzig were able to jump to second place if they won against Hertha Berlin, who had picked up two wins in a row since the league…
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Deportivo de La Coruña: The Demise of a Spanish Giant
Once Galician giants and La Liga champions in 2000, Deportivo de La Coruña surprised everyone with their rapid rise in Spanish football in the 1990’s. Now precariously sitting fourth-bottom of the Segunda División, the famous blue and white stripes could soon find themselves playing in Spain’s third tier for the first time since the 1980-81…
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Argentina’s Agony: 34 Years of World Cup Despair
As it turns out, Argentina is the breeding ground for a lot of things. Tango (both the dance and the greatest ball of all-time), Gauchos, and world-class footballers. However, with Argentina’s conveyor belt of high-quality footballers comes an expectation that is often too much for the players to deliver when the World Cup comes around. …
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Enzo Bearzot’s Italy: Part 1: Bearzot’s Boys Spring Azzurri Back to Life
Not only did an era end when Italy were eliminated from the group stage at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, but the Italians also suffered a blow in the battle of football ideologies. Catenaccio was still the prevalent tactic of choice for many Italian teams of that epoch, but the tournament played in West…
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Tactical Analysis: RB Leipzig vs. Mainz
After going winless in three games, RB Leipzig took on relegation-threatened Mainz on Matchday 27 in a must-win game to keep their title hopes alive. After Dortmund and Bayern put on convincing displays a day before in their wins against Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, the pressure was on Leipzig to deliver. They did it in…
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“A Cesspit of Lies, Treachery and Whispers”: How Real Madrid’s Dressing Room Transitioned from Ferrari Boys to Galácticos
If it isn’t raw feeling, football fans don’t want to know. Corporatism, footballers who don’t like football outside of their professional lives, empty stadiums, players not celebrating goals – all are treated with undiluted contempt by a hopelessly romantic footballing public. But the game can be a dispassionate pursuit. Though their supporters might expect…
