Confidence shot
What’s happening to Branislav Ivanovic is precisely the same thing Steven Gerrard experienced last year. His confidence is shot, his body is creaking and teams are starting to exploit him. He is trapped in a vicious circle.
The resurrection men
Southampton get a lot of praise for their recruitment, but Swansea have made a habit of taking players written off by other clubs — Jonjo Shelvey, Lukasz Fabianski, Gylfi Sigurdsson — and getting the best from them.
Minus one can add up
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A flurry of red cards this weekend highlighted a strange phenomenon: it looks to me as though no one knows how to play 10 v 11 any more. Just because you’re a man down doesn’t mean you should not try to win. Too few teams have emergency plans.
Trickle down hysteria
Bristol City valued Andre Gray at £9 million and now Sheffield Wednesday want to pay £11 million for Fulham’s Ross McCormack. The amount of money on offer in the Premier League has driven the Championship crazy.
The eyes don’t have it
Kevin de Bruyne is proof of how much football has changed. He’s an excellent statistics player, and that is where you have to pay top dollar now. All clubs are poring over the same figures, rather than trusting their eyes, driving prices up.