Articles
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The FIFA awards aren’t just a popularity contest; they’re a laughingstock
Football’s top awards have long been prestigious and admired, but FIFA have somehow turned one of the sports’ most decorated award shows into a laughing stock. In this year’s edition of FIFA’s “The Best” awards, we saw the end to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s dominance in FIFA’s Men’s Player of the Year race. While…
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Explaining Real Betis’ early struggles of 2018/19
Real Betis and manager Quique Setién injected a sense of excitement and life into LaLiga last term, finishing sixth in the table with an entertaining brand of attacking football. This was bound to be a difficult achievement to repeat, especially with the added responsibility of the UEFA Europa League. However, few would have expected such…
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Sampdoria’s High-Flying Start to the Season
Sampdoria has had a great start to the 2018/19 Serie A campaign and the performances from the Doriani suggest that they will be in contention for a spot in one of Europe’s competitions next season. Marco Giampaolo is in his third season as coach of the Blucerchiati and he has persisted with his attacking philosophy…
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Ranking the Champions League Favorites
After the first match-day of Champions League football, Kosi Benson evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the Champions League favorites. PSG Despite spending €1 billion in seven seasons, the Parisian club has never reached a Champions League semi-final. This year, with a superstar forward line as well as a master tactician in Thomas Tuchel, anything…
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Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Hornet
Every football fan knows how the 2015-16 Premier League season ended. With 5000/1 odds in August to be champions, Leicester City shocked the football world when they clinched the Premier League title. Based on their 2014-15 showing, relegation from the top flight following the 2015-16 season looked more likely than winning it. Nigel Pearson’s men…
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The Importance of Guardiola’s fullbacks
If there was one contrast that marked the difference between Pep Guardiola’s underwhelming debut season at Manchester City, and the rip-roaring, 100-point, title-winning sophomore season, it was the difference in fullbacks. In 2016/17, he had four aging full-backs who neither understood the new system nor had the energy to keep up with the technical nature…
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The Disputed Genius Of Christian Eriksen
Dropping off between the lines; playing delicious through balls; unlocking defences with pinpoint, well-timed passes; dropping into space and shooting accurately from acute angles; Christian Eriksen is that exceptionally skilled technician the seven emperors of ancient Rome would have paid to watch at the Colosseum. Two times Tottenham went behind, two times Tottenham restored parity.…
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Chelsea’s Infamous Loan Empire: Future Stars or Financial Benefit?
As we enter another season in which the amount of players that are on loan from Chelsea (40) completely dwarfs the number of players in their named 2018/19 squad (28), various questions are beginning to get thrown around. Firstly, is it worth stockpiling all this talent if it never actually materialises into quality on the…
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Group Stage Fan Preview: Benfica
Zach Lowy talks to Benfica Podcast host Cristiano Oliveira about Benfica. ZL: What are your expectations for Benfica going into the group stage? CO: It’s a tricky group, but I expect Benfica to fight it out with Ajax for that coveted 2nd place and advance to the knockout stage. ZL: How do you think Benfica can beat Ajax…
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Group Stage Fan Preview: FC Porto
After four painful years of waiting, FC Porto finally reclaimed the Primeira Liga title, in turn securing automatic qualification into the 2018/19 Champions League. It has been a strange summer for the 03/04 winners. At times, it looked like the core of the squad would be torn apart, but after interest from England cooled off,…
