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Player Focus: De Gea on the Road to Emulating Waning Casillas' Prime

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Player Focus: De Gea on the Road to Emulating Waning Casillas' Prime It wasn’t quite a passing of the torch, but it was at least a flicker of the future. Many around the Spanish camp believe it is a decision that should have been taken long ago. Some at Real Madrid certainly seem to think along those lines.On Tuesday night, David de Gea finally started ahead of...

Player Focus: Consistency Leading Hazard to Likely POTY Award

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Player Focus: Consistency Leading Hazard to Likely POTY Award The idea of a player of the year or has always been a rather hoary concept in football, not least because it is a team game. Of course, the very fact it is a team game makes it even more difficult to judge individual performance. Do a player's fine displays have the same merit if they have no tangib...

Match Focus: Manchester City Must Strike a Fine Balance to Beat Barcelona

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Match Focus: Manchester City Must Strike a Fine Balance to Beat Barcelona It said more than even Yaya Toure ever could that, as he tried to so consciously issue a rallying cry ahead of Manchester City’s trip to Barcelona, he couldn’t help re-asserting why their task is to difficult.“In football anything can happen, we have our chance and they have their ...

Team Focus: Something Still Lacking as Chelsea Face Toughest Test Yet Against PSG

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Team Focus: Something Still Lacking as Chelsea Face Toughest Test Yet Against PSG It’s been the bind that has so far created the only real doubt about Chelsea’s otherwise fine season, as well as Wednesday’s Champions League second leg with Paris Saint-Germain. Because, as high-quality as Jose Mourinho’s team is, as imposing as they should be for the French...

Player Focus: Typical Giroud Must Begin to Show Class When it Matters Most

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Player Focus: Typical Giroud Must Begin to Show Class When it Matters Most They were five days that seemed to sum up Olivier Giroud’s entire career at Arsenal.On Wednesday, with his side losing to Monaco in a Champions League tie that was finally supposed to see them end five years of last-16 frustration, the forward was presented with three big chances. He fluffed t...

Match Focus: Pellegrini Gets Tactics Wrong as Barcelona Triumph in Manchester

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Match Focus: Pellegrini Gets Tactics Wrong as Barcelona Triumph in Manchester It was a scene that defied both Manuel Pellegrini’s words, and the final score.After Manchester City had somehow escaped with just getting beaten 2-1 by an evidently superior Barcelona, who exploited so many conspicuously excessive gaps in the home side’s midfield, the Chilean was asked ...

Player Focus: Cazorla Flourishing in Withdrawn Central Midfield Role

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Player Focus: Cazorla Flourishing in Withdrawn Central Midfield Role It was a moment that required remarkable vision, but was impressively made look so thoroughly routine. By the 26th minute of Arsenal’s FA Cup tie at home to Middlesbrough, the Championship side were seemingly living up to all the praise they had received in the build-up to the game, because th...

Team Focus: Di María Amongst Those Suffering From Van Gaal's Long Ball Approach

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Team Focus: Di María Amongst Those Suffering From Van Gaal's Long Ball Approach It was a moment that said far more than even Sam Allardyce or Louis van Gaal ever could. Towards the end of Sunday's 1-1 draw between West Ham United and Manchester United, David De Gea caught the ball from a corner and immediately looked to initiate a counter-attack. It seemed set up for the sort o...

Player Focus: Is Versatile Cuadrado an Upgrade on Schürrle for Chelsea?

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Player Focus: Is Versatile Cuadrado an Upgrade on Schürrle for Chelsea? Back about a year ago, as José Mourinho was still assessing the Chelsea squad in his first season back, the Portuguese called over André Schürrle for what was already becoming a regular chat. Mourinho again instructed the German that he “needed to change”, both his gam...

Player Focus: Role of the Defensive Midfielder in State of Flux

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Player Focus: Role of the Defensive Midfielder in State of Flux For all the discussion that the game has left old-fashioned defenders behind, there is one position just in front of them that seems in a similar state of flux.It is little wonder that the majority of elite Premier League teams have issues in defensive midfield, or that as many as three of the Champ...