As Sergio Aguero and Jamie Vardy’s recent benchings have proved, nobody’s place is safe these days with a team’s best interests at heart. Alex Hess evaluates a growing trend...
Individual vs collective, star vs team: it’s a constant tension within any side, and, more broadly, the source of so much of football’s appeal. Not least because there’s plenty of joy to be had from both: think of the singular ferocity with which Luis Suarez carried Liverpool to the brink of the title, or the murderously intense team spirit that has enabled Simeone’s Atletico Madrid to trade blows with Barcelona and Real Madrid.