OLIVER HOLT: Read the 鮮明度／定義 of choking… That's not this 兵器庫 team. We should admire, not 侮辱 them

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There is a 広大な／多数の／重要な stigma 大（公）使館員d to the idea of 'choking' in sport.?

It is used as an 侮辱, an 告訴，告発 of 証拠不十分 that 暗示するs 欠如（する） of character and absence of moral fibre.

Academic papers, a whole raft of them, have been written about it. Maybe one day, they will 令状 one about 兵器庫?and the end to the 2023-24 season.?

But have 兵器庫's 信任状 in this delicate 事柄 really been fully 設立するd yet? I don't think so.

I was at The 首長国s last Tuesday when they played 貧しく against a Bayern Munich team that has had a 猛烈に disappointing season in the Bundesliga and drew 2-2 in the first 脚 of their 支持する／優勝者s League ４半期/4分の1-final.

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It felt as if 兵器庫 were 脅迫してさせるd by Bayern's European pedigree and under-成し遂げるd. Bayern, in contrast, played above themselves.?

When 兵器庫 lost at home to a 罰金?Aston 郊外住宅 味方する on Sunday and 設立する themselves two points behind Manchester City in the 肩書を与える race, they were すぐに （刑事）被告 of losing their 神経.

In their 2013 paper, '鮮明度／定義 of choking in sport: Re-conceptualization and 審議', published in the International 定期刊行物 of Sport Psychology, Christopher Mesagno and Denise Hill defined choking as 'an 激烈な／緊急の and かなりの 減少（する） in 技術 死刑執行 and 業績／成果 when self-推定する／予想するd 基準s are 普通は achievable, which is the result of 増加するd 苦悩 under perceived 圧力'.

So even though 兵器庫 didn't play 井戸／弁護士席 against either Bayern or 郊外住宅, it feels both 厳しい and lazy to talk about them choking. For a start, they're not out of anything yet.?

The 半端物s will be against them in the Allianz 円形競技場 on Wednesday night but they are good enough to get a result there if they play to their 可能性のある.

And did they really choke against 郊外住宅? I don't think so. They （機の）カム up against a 味方する that has shown many times this season it is 有能な of producing 優れた 陳列する，発揮するs and which is looking ますます likely to qualify for the 支持する／優勝者s League. They lost a game. They are still in the 肩書を与える race.

兵器庫 made the perfect start in the first 脚 of their 支持する／優勝者s League tie against Bayern

Harry Kane （機の）カム 支援する to haunt them by 手渡すing Bayern a 2-1 lead, but 兵器庫 fought 支援する

Leandro Trossard 確実にするd the two teams go 支援する to Bavaria with the tie 平等に-均衡を保った at 2-2

If you want proper examples of choking, you could do worse than to have been in Augusta this week.?

Not because of what went on this year, where Scottie Scheffler stayed 激しく揺する solid in the final 一連の会議、交渉／完成する on Sunday as a 一連の 競争相手s tried to 倒す his lead but because of what has happened here in the past.

Two of the biggest chokes in sport happened at Augusta 国家の. Sir Nick Faldo, who could often be 設立する last week sitting at his favourite （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する on the clubhouse balcony, chatting to friends and 調査するing today's 星／主役にするs on their way to the first tee, induced one of those chokes when he relentlessly destroyed Greg Norman's six-発射 lead at the Masters in 1996.

And Rory McIlroy, who still seems scarred by the experience and is still trying without success to 勝利，勝つ the Masters, had one of the most famous 炉心溶融s in the tournament's history in 2011 when he went into the final 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with a four-発射 lead, only to 減少（する） seven 一打／打撃s in six 穴を開けるs and finish tied for 15th.

Norman and McIlroy both fit the academic, and popular, idea of a choke. 兵器庫 don't.?

Greg Norman (left) choked on the final day of the 1996 Masters as Nick Faldo (権利) won

Rory McIlroy 耐えるd a 悲惨な final 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to throw away the Masters lead in 2011

It is not as if, this season in particular, they have ever been so far ahead of City or Liverpool that not to 勝利，勝つ the 肩書を与える would seem outlandish.?

If anything, they have 汚職，収賄d their way into 論争, eking out results without やめる playing 同様に as they did last season.

They're not choking. Maybe they're not やめる good enough but that's yet to be proven and anyway, it's an 完全に different thing.?

The truth is that everyone 推定する／予想するd City to 勝利，勝つ the 肩書を与える this season and everyone has continued to 推定する／予想する City to 勝利，勝つ it. They are, after all, trying to 勝利，勝つ an 前例のない fourth 肩書を与える in a 列／漕ぐ／騒動. They are one of the greatest teams English football has ever seen.

If you lose to Goliath, that's not choking. That's just 屈服するing to a superior 軍隊. That's what I don't like about the idea that 兵器庫 have somehow '瓶／封じ込めるd it' in the 首相 League because of one 敗北・負かす to Aston 郊外住宅.

They have gone 長，率いる-to-長，率いる with City for most of the season. They took four points off them from the two times they met. They have shown resilience and character in 豊富 to get this far.

Yes, I thought their 陳列する，発揮する against Bayern was disappointing and that they were overawed by their 対抗者s' history.?

But they drew the game 2-2. And they ended the game 堅固に, not meekly. They did not fade away. They did not 服従させる／提出する when Bayern took a first-half lead. They were outplayed, yes, but they 辞退するd to give in. That's not choking.

Manchester City are past masters at getting over the line in a 首相 League 肩書を与える race

City 上げるd their goal difference by thrashing Luton 5-1 in the 首相 League on Saturday

Last season, Mikel Arteta's 味方する blew a lead at the 最高の，を越す of 首相 League with three 連続する draws in April against 女性 味方するs and a 鎮圧するing loss to City.?

兵器庫 are stronger and tougher than that now. They are a team on the rise. They are a team that is getting closer and closer.

I think this iteration of 兵器庫 is too good to fade away again. That's not the same as thinking they will 勝利，勝つ the 肩書を与える but it is the same as thinking they are packed with players now who will not go 静かに into the night. 郊外住宅 was always going to be a 堅い game and the gap to City is only two points.

兵器庫, and Arteta, deserve our 賞賛 for what they have 達成するd this season. If they do not 勝利，勝つ the league, it will not because they were clones of Norman or McIlroy.?

It will not be because they are not made of the 権利 stuff or because they 欠如（する） cojones or because they choked. It will be because Manchester City were better.

I'm sure I 解任する 存在 told by impressionable people that not only was Todd Boehly, the Chelsea co-owner, the smartest man in the room but that his new 政策 of spending 広大な 量s of money on every football player he 始める，決める 注目する，もくろむs on but staggering 支払い（額）s over long periods was the way 今後 that everyone else was too stupid to see.?

How strange then that there appears to be some alarm that new Chelsea accounts show a 行う 法案 that is way above £400m and a club 猛烈に trying to 減ずる its losses by selling 所有物／資産／財産 to a sister company.?

There is suddenly alarm for Todd Boehly and Chelsea after their 行う 法案 急上昇するd?

Oh, and Chelsea sit in 中央の-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する almost 30 points behind leaders Manchester City, although I'm sure Chelsea have 建設するd 'modelling' that shows they should 現実に be first.?

Until that modelling turns into something real, maybe English football should be spared Boehly's smug lectures on his 財政上の acumen.

In his 長引いた paean to greed in The Times last week, 首相 League 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある Richard Masters wrote that the organisation was 'in 肯定的な 対話 with the EFL and the FA, 目的（とする）ing to 安全な・保証する the 未来 of the game with a long-継続している 解決／入植地 on 重要な 問題／発行するs'.?

That sound you hear echoing around the grounds of the 72 EFL clubs is bitter and incredulous laughter.