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Mourinho’s Toughest Test
As Graziano Pellé struck for Southampton in the 72nd minute to put the Saints ahead 3-1 at Stamford Bridge the Sky Sports commentator remarked, “This is turning from a blip into a full blown crisis for Chelsea.” Southampton would win the match by that scoreline and keep Chelsea in 16th place in the table ahead…
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The Parisian Angel
Ángel Di María, the world-record signing by a British team, didn’t exactly settle in in his first, and from the looks of it only, season in Manchester. Brought in as part of Louis van Gaal’s rebuilding project, di María started with a bang, only to slowly fade and become a supporting character in Manchester United’s…
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Chelsea 1 – PSG 1: Midfield Dominates, Forwards Stifled For Blanc’s Crew
PSG and Chelsea battled to a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes, with PSG probably ruing the fact that they couldn’t get more out of this game. Because of PSG’s injury problems (Serge Aurier, Yohan Cabaye, Lucas Moura and Marquinhos all sustained injuries against Caen, although Marquinhos was able to play), not many gave…
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Bayern 1, City 0: Tactics
Yaya Toure and Fernandinho The most notable tactical development for Manchester City was what Yaya Toure and Fernandinho did at CM in the middle of City’s 4-4-1-1. Fernandinho was everywhere on the pitch and trying to do everything, while Toure seemed lazy and didn’t show much of a defensive work rate. 35% of Fernandinho’s touches…
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European Roundtable
Can Napoli or Roma unseat Juve this year? If so, who? Ahmad: This says more about Juventus than the other two, quite frankly, and with good reason. Antonio Conte is gone, replaced by AC Milan whipping boy Max Allegri. As soon as he left, Juventus lost out on signing Juan Iturbe to Roma, and the…
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Champions League Group Stage Power Rankings
The Champions League group stage was drawn today. 32 teams from 18 nations have been drawn into eight groups of four. But you already know that. Let’s rank the groups for how interesting, competitive and fun they’ll be. 1. GROUP E (FC Bayern München, Manchester City FC, PFC CSKA Moskva, AS Roma) This is the…
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Champions League Play-Off Round Haikus
Maribor-Celtic No Fraser Forster/And Agim Ibraimi’s good/Scots win regardless Red Bull Salzburg-Malmö The Austrian champs/Shall not stand in the Swedes’ way/They’re Zlatan’s first team AaB-APOEL Aalborg must watch out/De Vincenti is in form/For the Cypriots Steaua București-Ludogorets Marcelinho’s brace/Gave rise to dreams of group stage/They’ll be realized Slovan Bratislava-BATE The Belarus club/From playoff round wilderness/Shall advance further Beşiktaş-Arsenal…