in possession. Fabio Borini was often doing two players’ worth of pressing whilst Jermain Defoe stayed central, and this meant he could be fairly easily bypassed by a quick sideways pass. Stones & Kolarov both dribbled with the ball when the space was available after Borini had been forced into pressing on the other side of the pitch.

Whilst the quick circulation in possession allowed the centre back to be the free-man in build-up, this effect was nullified by poor spacing from City. Sagna & Clichy seemed unaware of how to adjust their positioning, and this often led to overcrowding.

Unlike David Alaba’s role at Bayern Munich, the full-backs were generally limited to the first phase of build-up, or picking up second balls. Once play moved into the final third,By Jake Donovan

Less than 2,000 tickets remain for Gennady Golovkin’s highly anticipated July 26 middleweight tile fight with Daniel Geale, which also marks debut in the main room at Madison Square Garden.

The bout, which will air live on HBO, marks the first stateside appearance of 2014 for Golovkin (29-0, 26KOs), whose lone fight this year took place in Monte Carlo.

The unbeaten knockout artist from Kazakhstan played Madison Square Garden’s Theatre venue three times in 2013. With his popularity rising with each visit, it was decided by his team that it was time to graduate to the main room.

“Gennady will be the first fighter besides Miguel Cotto to carry an event in the big arena since 2008,” points out Tom Loeffler, Managing Director of K2 Promotions and the driving