Ferguson has called the decision the biggest mistake of his career. No doubt to some the story would serve as a warning as to the dangers of reducing soccer to a stream of numbers; to us, though, it simply proves that defense is not just undervalued in soccer, but valued entirely incorrectly. This is because of another psychological phenomenon that gets in the way of understanding defense: we remember, and place undue significance on, things that do happen while ignoring those that do not. As the psychologist Eliot Hearst explains: “In many situations animals and human beings have surprising
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