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Team Focus: Is Tim Sherwood the Man to Keep Villa in the Premier League?

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Team Focus: Is Tim Sherwood the Man to Keep Villa in the Premier League? It’s not hard to see where the problems at Aston Villa lie. Their lack of goals have become a standing joke: Jasper Carrott did a gag in the eighties about his club, Birmingham City having a Month of the Goal competition, and when Aston Villa had to cancel their Goal of the Month award in Octo...

Team Focus: Post-January Squad Depth Leading Derby Towards Promotion

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Team Focus: Post-January Squad Depth Leading Derby Towards Promotion Darren Bent has had a curious career. His talent has never been doubted but the most frustrating thing about the 31-year-old is how easily he can flit from prolific to profligate. For each season like the 24 league goals he scored for Sunderland in 2009/10, there was a campaign like 2007/08 at Totte...

Team Focus: Paris Saint-Germain Hit Problems Ahead of Chelsea Clash

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Team Focus: Paris Saint-Germain Hit Problems Ahead of Chelsea Clash It was “an extraordinary scenario”, as Laurent Blanc put it after the game or, according to L’Equipe, a “catastrophic” one. As Paris Saint-Germain enter one of the pivotal weeks of their season, matters that seemed in hand give the increasing impression of slipping from...

Team Focus: Pochettino's Youthful Tottenham Built for Bright Future

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Team Focus: Pochettino's Youthful Tottenham Built for Bright Future The list of superlatives left to describe Harry Kane’s phenomenal rise over the past months is fast running out. Praise upon praise has been heaped on the man-of-the-moment, with past players and pundits alike demanding an England call-up whilst talk persists of the likes of Real Madrid sendin...

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...

Team Focus: Passing Atletico Show Another String to Their Bow in Derby Win

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Team Focus: Passing Atletico Show Another String to Their Bow in Derby Win The 4-0 scoreline was probably not even the most startling thing about Atletico Madrid’s embarrassment of their bigger, richer neighbours in Saturday’s ‘derbi’ meeting at the Estadio Vicente Calderon. Even more surprising was the realisation that, even on the biggest occasion...

Team Focus: Rennes' Green Shoots of Recovery Frustrate Marseille

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Team Focus: Rennes' Green Shoots of Recovery Frustrate Marseille If you had to choose a Ligue 1 coach to babysit your kids, who would it be? There are plenty of good candidates; Hubert Fournier allows his young charges at Lyon to tread the line between precociousness and sensibility, Marcelo Bielsa’s tough love approach has worked well for Marseille (despit...

Team Focus: Şenol Güneş Whipping up a Storm in Bursa

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Team Focus: Şenol Güneş Whipping up a Storm in Bursa If Fatih Terim is the Emperor of Turkish football Şenol Güneş is the Sultan. Güneş guided the Crescent-Stars to an unprecedented third-place finish at the 2002 World Cup. The achievement did not however, result in a golden age. The Turkish national side did reach the semi-finals of Euro 20...

Team Focus: Desperate Lack of Ambition Leaves Stagnating Newcastle Stuck in Mid-Table

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Team Focus: Desperate Lack of Ambition Leaves Stagnating Newcastle Stuck in Mid-Table Is there a football club at which the disparity between the ambitions of the fans and the club’s hierarchy is greater than Newcastle at present? Their supporters always want what is best for the club, and even if that was manifested all too toxically when the ‘Sack Pardew’ campaign...

Team Focus: Assessing the Premier League Relegation Run-in

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Team Focus: Assessing the Premier League Relegation Run-in At this stage of the season the Premier League table has rather satisfyingly split into three sections: the big-hitting European hopefuls in the top 8, the no-hopers in mid-table - lacking in ambition and almost certain to end the season drifting aimlessly amidst mediocrity - and the precariously pl...