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Team Focus: Are Doubters of Sherwood's Tactical Nous Being Vindicated?

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Team Focus: Are Doubters of Sherwood's Tactical Nous Being Vindicated? The season started so well for Aston Villa. After a summer of comings and goings, with the likes of Idrissa Gana, Jordan Veretout and Jordan Amavi arriving at Villa Park in the wake of Christian Benteke’s big money move to Liverpool, fans were confident of bettering their 17th-placed finish la...

Team Focus: Swansea's Dip in Form Cause for Concern

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Team Focus: Swansea's Dip in Form Cause for Concern At the end of August, confidence was soaring at the Liberty Stadium. Swansea City had just secured a hard-fought 2-1 win over Manchester United in Wales and expectations were high that a European place could be secured through the league. However, fast-forward to the present day and the Autumnal sun...

Team Focus: Guiltiest Culprits in Club-Wide Collapse at Chelsea

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Team Focus: Guiltiest Culprits in Club-Wide Collapse at Chelsea Chelsea’s collapse in the early part of this season has been remarkable, even if, in retrospect, the signs were there. Towards the end of last season their poor form, the way they rather stumbled over the line, was generally put down to fatigue, the result of Jose Mourinho’s insistence o...

Team Focus: Juventus Must Translate European Form to Serie A

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Team Focus: Juventus Must Translate European Form to Serie A Before kick off at the J Stadium on Wednesday night, the Curva Nord exhibited its latest choreography. It depicted a knight rearing up on a zebra about to embark on a quest. Ahead of him lay a promised land where the Champions League trophy stands like a monument. Above was the date and place of Juv...

Team Focus: Ability to Adapt Key to Bournemouth's Survival in Absence of Wilson

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Team Focus: Ability to Adapt Key to Bournemouth's Survival in Absence of Wilson If the late defeat to Stoke last weekend was not tough enough to take, the news after the game that Bournemouth's top scorer Callum Wilson would be out for at least 6 months with torn knee ligaments has left plenty of sour Cherries on the south coast. The blow comes a matter of weeks after the club'...

Team Focus: New Midfield Partnership Key to Unbeaten Start for Ajax

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Team Focus: New Midfield Partnership Key to Unbeaten Start for Ajax Not a day goes by without the word 'philosophy' being uttered. And for good reason, identity is everything in football, which brings us to Ajax; an institution that has influenced the modern game to a degree that few other clubs have. It's no surprise then that custodians of the 'Amsterdamsche Schoo...

Team Focus: City Collapse Highlights Continued Reliance on Old Guard

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Team Focus: City Collapse Highlights Continued Reliance on Old Guard The puncturing of Manchester City’s aura of invincibility has been remarkable. It’s not two weeks since they were cruising at the top of the Premier League with a 100% record and a lead of at least five points over the other realistic title challengers, and were 1-0 up against Juventus i...

Team Focus: Is this United Team Better than it Appears?

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Team Focus: Is this United Team Better than it Appears? Not for the first time this season, Louis van Gaal’s press conference on Sunday was baffling. Ronald Koeman, the Southampton manager, is habitually cautious about discussing the opposition, but he had no qualms about acknowledging Manchester United’s defensive “flaws”. But no...

Team Focus: Stylish Nice Once Again Shine on the Road

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Team Focus: Stylish Nice Once Again Shine on the Road They may be separated by a 250km ferry ride, but when Nice and Bastia meet, it’s a derby. That is the feeling on both the Côte d’Azur and the northeastern coast of Corsica and accordingly, sparks tend to fly when the pair come together. After some unsavoury incidents surrounding re...

Team Focus: Misfiring Midfield Holding Southampton Back

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Team Focus: Misfiring Midfield Holding Southampton Back Can Southampton class their start to the season as successful? In truth, it’s been hard to know what to make of it thus far. Their premature exit from the Europa League was a big disappointment on the south coast and while their only defeat in the Premier League has come to Everton, they have ...