Players

The Ivory Coast will go into this year’s World Cup as ninth- favourites, the shortest-priced African side to ever go into a World Cup tournament. They play a fairly standard 4-3-3 system, with two wingers happy to rotate, attacking full-backs, and a solid, physical midfield.
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Gael Clichy’s form over the past 18 months has been a real cause for concern for Arsenal fans. When Ashley Cole left for Chelsea in 2006, the consensus amongst Gooners was that Arsenal hadn’t done too badly, because Clichy stepped into the first team and was playing consistently well. And indeed, better than Cole...
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After the whole John Terry / Wayne Bridge / Vanessa Perroncel storm of last week, this was exactly what the current England captain needed. Chelsea didn’t play well at Turf Moor, and it was a poor game overall, but Terry turned in a terrific performance. In a way, it was precisely the kind of game Terry...
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After Arsenal’s 1-2 defeat at Old Trafford earlier in the season, Arsene Wenger made a point of singling out Darren Fletcher for criticism: “There are other points that, for me, are more urgent – players who play only to make fouls, who make repeated fouls and are never punished. They get out of the game without...
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If Sam Allardyce had a footballer-making machine, and wanted to create a centre-back, you get the feeling he’d produce something along the lines of Christopher Samba. 6′4, brave, consistent, unfussy and completely dominant in the air. Quietly, Blackburn have crept into the top half of the table, although they do have a very bad defensive...
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