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Toby Alderweireld: Tottenham's pseudo-playmaker

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10 minutes have passed in Tottenham Hotspur's match against Crystal Palace. Toby Alderweireld receives the ball in his own half, looks up, and sends a long ball towards space in behind the Palace defender Sakho. Son Heung-min, sprinting valiantly as he always does, latches onto it, and proceeds to cut inside and score. 1-0 to Spurs, with the kind of goal created seemingly out of nowhere by the direct passing of the big man Toby. For all the creativity of Eriksen, Dele and (arguably this season) Lamela, Toby Alderweireld remains one of the most underrated creative outlets for Tottenham, and yet one whose contract is fast running down. Toby loves to ping long balls over the top, and he's been doing it for years. He's also turned out to be really, really good at it.  So much so that, for the past three years, he's completed the most long balls in the league from an outfield player by a landslide (players who made more than 10 appearances). In 2018-19, he was the o...
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Just How Do You Beat Manchester City?

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As Dua Lipa said, "Touch me like you touch nobody, put your hands all up on me." It’s deep into extra time at the Etihad, and somehow a plucky Tottenham side have been holding the champions to a 2-2 draw for the best part of 90 minutes. City’s (and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s) perfect home record is about to come to an end, and Pep is not happy. His team has missed over 10 chances and conceded twice, and he’s already burned bridges with the club’s record goalscorer after subbing him off. A De Bruyne corner is sent into the box amidst a flurry of Tottenham bodies, and lands at the feet of Gabriel Jesus, who smashes it past Lloris. City have the 3 points, and parity is restored. Pep and Aguero kiss and make up in a wholesome embrace. For a moment, City are perfect again. Then in a moment of déjà vu, VAR does its thing. Laporte was seen to have handled the ball in the build-up, and the goal is disallowed. Pep and City are struck with flashbacks of last season’...
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Is Lionel Messi Finally The Greatest Of All Time?

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Lionel Messi has finally won the World Cup. Is the GOAT debate over? (Getty Images) As Gonzalo Montiel slotted home past Hugo Lloris, shades of blue and white erupted across the Lusail Stadium. Messi sank into the ground in joy, engulfed by his teammates. He had finally done it. After a long, glittering career, he had finally filled that one gaping hole in his star-studded CV, one that had always left him lagging behind in the debate with Pele and Diego Maradona to be the greatest footballer of all time. And now, this singular global triumph would surely, almost inarguably, elevate him above these two greats. In the hours after the Argentinian win, pictures and videos of the Argentinian captain lifting the coveted trophy spread all across social media, accompanied with captions like "Messi has completed football." It was almost like a fairy tale that had reached its happy ending. Having emerged over the years as a product of armchair analysts' whataboutism, the lack of a ...
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