Eniola Aluko

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Thinking back to how it fell apart for Mourinho at Chelsea, I do have some sympathy for him. At most clubs it is the manager who determines the long-term stability of the players but at Chelsea it seems very much the other way round.
- Eniola Aluko
Collection: Sympathy
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My father was a politician. My grandfather was a politician too, maybe it's an innate idea of representing people that we have in our family. I won't go into politics. I think I can provide the voice for the voiceless through law.
- Eniola Aluko
Collection: Politics
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After you're dating someone for a few weeks, you often don't become exclusive until you give yourself more time to know what a relationship could be like in the future. You can't get too excited too quickly.
- Eniola Aluko
Collection: Dating
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I would say the most memorable thing that has ever happened to me has to be when I got my First class honours Law degree at my University graduation. All my family from all over the world were there when I collected my degree. I will never forget that day.
- Eniola Aluko
Collection: Graduation
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It's great being part of Juventus. As expected, there's a real family feel to the club, alongside a big desire to win as often as possible.
- Eniola Aluko
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Champions League football is one of the primary reasons I joined Juventus so I am determined to help the team succeed in the competition.
- Eniola Aluko
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Rita Guarino is one of the best technical coaches I have had in my career - often she demonstrates a specific technique and shows the players up!
- Eniola Aluko
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From a young age in England I felt technical skills were coached out of me. I remember when I was 15 doing a rainbow flick over a player's head in training and the coach telling me off and shouting: 'This is not the Eni show.' That discouraged me from expressing myself individually with the ball in that team again.
- Eniola Aluko
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Off the pitch I've always believed it is healthy to switch off from football and have completely different interests too.
- Eniola Aluko
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As a quick, tricky player, I've been told that I don't go down enough because I've always tried to stay on my feet or I don't win clever fouls around the box. But when you are quick, the fastest way to be stopped is by being fouled so it happens to me a lot, even if I don't always maximise the opportunity.
- Eniola Aluko
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Marta is one of my favourite players, and one of the best players I've had the privilege of coming up against, so I say this with the greatest respect: there are other players who were in a much stronger position to be named the best female player of 2018.
- Eniola Aluko
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If, say, a striker knows that scoring 30 goals in a season will lead to them winning a prestigious award then they will try that little bit harder because, regardless of what players may say, individual recognition on the world stage is important.
- Eniola Aluko
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In a world overloaded with information and content, there is simply no excuse for fans to be ill-informed about women's football.
- Eniola Aluko
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When I was a young girl I had to deal with people calling me weird and strange because I spent so much time around boys playing football.
- Eniola Aluko
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I think the quicker we tell young girls who dream of playing professionally that they should believe in themselves, the more prepared they will be for the world of pro sport.
- Eniola Aluko
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I had to deal with casual sexism while working as a pundit for ITV during the World Cup in Russia.
- Eniola Aluko
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I feel that sometimes managers think that, if they can come up with a tactic that leads to success in a major game, they can get all the plaudits.
- Eniola Aluko
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The problem with tactical novelties that might lead to a manager being hailed as a hero is that if they do not come off they are the villain.
- Eniola Aluko
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This is something that baffles me about managers: if you know the formation that you will revert to if you are in trouble, why not start with it?
- Eniola Aluko
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There is a risk women's football becomes the most popular spectator sport that fans tune into every four years but are not interested in parting with their money to watch the same players on their doorstep.
- Eniola Aluko
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A big player coming in can change the dynamics of the dressing room, upset the rhythm of the team and end up doing more harm than good.
- Eniola Aluko
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Sometimes keeping a squad together can improve spirit and with it performances.
- Eniola Aluko
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It's important for a player to leave on the right note. Even if you're not happy to be going, or your relationships at your old club have turned sour, it is always best to be respectful. Thank the club and its fans for their support and the opportunity they gave you and leave with head held high.
- Eniola Aluko
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I really liked English literature, a subject I did really well at.
- Eniola Aluko
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I take the sporting genes from my dad.
- Eniola Aluko
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All over the world people know Juventus as a club affiliated with legends and success and the project with the women's side is very ambitious.
- Eniola Aluko
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Juventus offered me the opportunity to sign in 2017 and I turned it down. I just didn't feel the timing was right.
- Eniola Aluko
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There are a lot of football clubs that are fantastic football clubs but how they treat footballers is another story.
- Eniola Aluko
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You've got to find a sweet spot where you skill meets your passion, meets your job.
- Eniola Aluko
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If you're at uni just because your parents have said so... There's a lot of success stories of people who have dropped out.
- Eniola Aluko
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I really enjoyed my degree. But there's so many people I went to uni with that didn't.
- Eniola Aluko
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You can always go to uni later on in life. There's no set way. If you are at uni, work hard. Strive for your best.
- Eniola Aluko
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When you make a young player feel young, it doesn't necessarily help them - they often want to be treated like everyone else. If you respect their talent, then that can give them the confidence to express themselves.
- Eniola Aluko
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Coaches can sometimes mollycoddle players too much - if they are good enough, then they are old enough.
- Eniola Aluko
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I always try to talk to my younger teammates in the same way I would do with my older ones and you can see in their eyes how much showing them some respect means.
- Eniola Aluko
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If a young player feels comfortable in a team then they will flourish and be who they want to be. It's less about patronising them and more about trusting them.
- Eniola Aluko
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People have been very quick to judge young black players on their lifestyles and then when they go on to win the World Cup, to take league titles or score goals they're all of a sudden changed men. They haven't changed, people are just choosing to see them in a different way.
- Eniola Aluko
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Perception is a big thing in football and people need to be more careful about how they choose to perceive young players in the first instance.
- Eniola Aluko
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If you drop a player when his form dips, sometimes it never quite comes back.
- Eniola Aluko
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For all his tactical genius Guardiola is also a manager who can be patient and loyal, who backs players to come out of bad patches and hit golden patches.
- Eniola Aluko
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Being able to put the ball in the back of the net is so important at the highest level and could be the difference between reaching the semi-finals and actually winning the World Cup.
- Eniola Aluko
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As I can testify, living in a foreign country takes you way out of your comfort zone. It's the little things, like ordering food in a different language, buying petrol or learning to drive on the other side of the road, but they all add up to making you a more rounded, educated person.
- Eniola Aluko
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An opportunity to play for your country is never senseless and especially when the games are competitive.
- Eniola Aluko
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As a forward, when you have not scored for a while the desire to score gets stronger and stronger and ultimately that can work against you because you are trying too hard to do what comes naturally.
- Eniola Aluko
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My mum's an amazing woman, a huge part of my life. She's very entrepreneurial, owns a very successful business. I take a lot of inspiration from that. That has as much impact on my sport as being athletic does.
- Eniola Aluko
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You are going to fail in sport, you are going to win sometimes, you are going to be criticised sometimes, you are going to be applauded - so it gives you... well, it's certainly given me anyway, those real-life lessons that make you bulletproof.
- Eniola Aluko
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It is dangerous to sit on your laurels, but a lot of the time you only have to add one or two people to the fringes of a winning team to improve it.
- Eniola Aluko
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It can be difficult for players who are perceived to have turned their backs on England, as Wilfried Zaha has found out after deciding to play for Ivory Coast.
- Eniola Aluko
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Sometimes it's easier to chase a title than it is to lead.
- Eniola Aluko
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I'm absolutely loving Turin's old, historical-city vibe, with the narrow, cobbled streets.
- Eniola Aluko