THE rush to embrace the collective in team sport can often lead to some strange standpoints. Managers insisting “it isn’t about them” despite their very livelihoods being on the line with every result. Strikers who claim they don’t mind whether they score or not in a victory. And goalkeepers underlining how insignificant it is whether they keep clean sheets or not as long as the team prevails, even though their only job is to try to prevent the opposition scoring. It is an admirable yet

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