I think most people will agree that, on the whole, Arsenal fans were filled with a quiet, but lingering, optimism stepping into this season. Rightly or wrongly, this was mainly due to the more enjoyable way that the, generally miserable, 19/20 season came to an end. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team were able to beat both …
Read More “Touchy Gooners Special: “pLaY aUbA dOwN tHe MiDdLe” – By Dan Koogs”
Pre-game: Manchester City went into their clash against Chelsea needing a win to return to the top of the Premier League. But City would only climb above Liverpool on goal difference, something which Pep Guardiola stressed the importance of in this season’s title race. Chelsea, recently buoyed by their 5-0 drubbing of Huddersfield, were looking …
Manchester City have set the premier league alight this season, as is often the case in England one single team has been completely dominant. Despite the general belief that the premier league is the most competitive around Europe, Chelsea won the league in 2016/17 with 7 points to spare after leading by 11 points during …
The wonderkid, an embodiment of hope and excitement. Every club has a young talent, through which many a fan live their hopes and dreams vicariously through. Every so often a young player bursts onto the scene standing above his contemporaries, think ex-Monaco hotshot Kylian Mbappé, Marcus Rashford’s dream emergence before him and the original wonderkid …
Read More “Expectation vs Achievement – Loftus-Cheek vs Alli”
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte was the recipient of much acclaim last year, approaching the end of last season the italian was living the dream, he had taken the league by storm and turned the flickering blue fire at stamford bridge into a raging mechanical inferno dismantling everything in its path. Chelsea stormed to the title …
Each manager has a different identity, a philosophy from which they do not often stray. One that comes to mind is undoubtedly Jose Mourinho’s pragmatism prioritising ‘not losing’ over everything. That is not to say his teams play unwatchable football, but perspective is a powerful thing in football and Mourinho cannot stand failure. It goes …
It is as intangible an attribute as they come in football. It’s not like technical prowess, where it can be easily seen how well a footballer manipulates the ball to his advantage or his physical adeptness enabling him to overcome his opponent via speeding past them or brushing them off with their strength. No, footballing …
Read More “The Abstract Attribute of Footballing Intelligence”
