All Kieran Canning posts on WhoScored.com Articles RSS

League Focus: Possession Means Little in La Liga

by
League Focus: Possession Means Little in La Liga If this summer's European Championship seemed to tell us anything it was that Spanish teams and Spanish players love possession. Having the ball and being in control of the game is when they feel most comfortable.Even if it wasn't always dazzling up until the demolition of Italy in the final, it was...

League Focus: La Liga Team of the Season

by
League Focus: La Liga Team of the Season An incredible last few minutes to the season which saw two goals in two minutes in two different stadiums relegate a Champions League regular in the shape of Villarreal, masked a Spanish league campaign split in two.Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated in recent years, but this time the gap was ...

Match Focus: Athletic vs Atletico

by
Match Focus: Athletic vs Atletico When you think of the top eight teams in Europe the usual behemoths of European football come to mind; Barcelona and Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and given their domestic success this season maybe even Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Manchester City.AtléticoMadrid, ...

Team Focus: Racing Santander

by
Team Focus: Racing Santander La Liga’s first casualty of the season was confirmed on Saturday as Racing Santander were handily beaten 3-0 by Real Sociedad to mathematically ensure they were relegated.Their failure isn’t much of a surprise given the unrest and instability at the club on and off the field this season....

Team Focus: Barcelona's Failings

by
Team Focus: Barcelona's Failings In just four days Barcelona have kissed goodbye to the two major trophies they won last year and whilst their first home defeat since September 2010 to Real Madrid, followed by a barely believable elimination by Chelsea from the Champions League 3-2 on aggregate, came as a shock, some of the factors...

Player Focus: Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao)

by
Player Focus: Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao) Ever since Marcelo Bielsa agreed to have a second crack at La Liga by returning to take charge of Athletic Bilbao last summer, they have been one of Spain’s most intriguing storylines.The match on the surface wasn’t exactly a perfect one. Bielsa’s intense pressing and possession ba...

Team Focus: Real Betis

by
Team Focus: Real Betis In a league dogged by inconsistency most sides in La Liga this season haven't known whether they’re fighting relegation or challenging for a place in Europe. No team has personified that lack of regularity more than Real Betis.In the first throes of Autumn the good times were back on the green...

Player Focus: Falcao (Atletico Madrid)

by
Player Focus: Falcao (Atletico Madrid) When Radamel Falcao made the trip across the Iberian Peninsula from Porto to Atlético Madrid for some €40m in the summer many an eyebrow was raised.Why would a player who had starred as the Portuguese side stormed to four trophies and on a personal level broke a European record by scorin...

Player Focus: Philippe Coutinho (Espanyol - On Loan)

by
Player Focus: Philippe Coutinho (Espanyol - On Loan) As the end of the January transfer window approached it was no surprise that one of the few clubs in Spain to make a move were Espanyol.Mauricio Pochettino’s side had surpassed expectations to enter the New Year in fifth place, but a gruelling January calendar in which they played eight times ...

Player Focus: Santi Cazorla (Malaga)

by
Player Focus: Santi Cazorla (Malaga) As Santi Cazorla stepped up to bend in a truly sensational free-kick into Iker Casillas’ top left-hand corner late on Sunday night many would have been surprised.Xavi Hernandez, though, wouldn’t have been among them, only last week when asked about other midfielders he admired he said, &...