José Mourinho will take his Manchester United team down to Swansea in an attempt to qualify for the next round of the Carabao Cup.
It isn’t a competition which is among his two top priorities but, suddenly, this game has become quite important, to Mourinho, the players and the fans.
This is because had United attacked Liverpool, at Anfield, just over a week ago, it is entirely possible they would have left with all three points. (more…)
José Mourinho has decided that the loss against Huddersfield Town was entirely the fault of his players. He is right, to an extent, in that it is they who take to the pitch and, therefore, they who have the major say in how the game is going to be played and whether or not they will win.
He is also right if they fail to carry out his instructions and leave the field having lost the game.
He is wrong to think that, by publicly blaming the players, it makes him in some way safer in his job. (more…)
Is anybody going to challenge Manchester City for the title this season?
Arsenal and Liverpool have already proven themselves far too inconsistent and may even struggle to get into the top four. As they both play on Sunday we may get an idea if they have managed to improve on their recent form.
Arsenal appear to have the easier game as they are going to Goodison Park to play a totally out of form Everton, while Liverpool travel to White Hart Wembley to play Tottenham who, if they can ever work out how to play there, could be considered serious challengers themselves! (more…)
Unless you have a different idea to the rest of us on how the game of football should be played, it is difficult to disagree that Manchester City are the form team at the moment. Not only that but, when in full flow, they are without doubt the most attractive of the top teams to watch.
But who comes next? Forget parking the bus, forget different tactics and formations for different games. Who, when in full flow and playing all-out attacking football, is next in the list of “must watch” teams? (more…)
This is a question we would like to be able to put to José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. It would also get interesting replies from Arséne Wenger, Antonio Conte and Jürgen Klopp, not to mention Mauricio Pochettino.
To be fair they all set out, at the beginning of each season, to play open attractive football. Football is, after all, part of the entertainment industry and it’s success is measured, to an extent, by the amount of people who watch the games. This, in turn, dictates the quality of sponsorship attracted which determines the money paid into the clubs by these sponsors, and so on and so on. (more…)
Tuesday night saw Manchester City take on Napoli at The Etihad. As has often been the case this season they started like an express train and were soon two goals up. It looked for all the world as though they were going to score four or more goals again.
Unusually though, for City anyway, they laboured a little in trying to find a third goal and it was actually Napoli who should have scored but Mertens penalty was straight down the middle, a route whereby the ball will often catch the goalkeepers legs whichever way he is diving, as it did in this case. (more…)
Is José Mourinho just flirting with PSG in order to get some attention from his current employers? It is reported that he has asked for a “massive” pay rise, whatever that is, in order to sign a new and extended contract with United and he could be using the fact that he is still able to command the top jobs in European football as leverage to get it.
He could also be seriously contemplating taking the PSG job, either at the end of this contract or the next one.
United fans need to remember that, for Mourinho, this may be his biggest job to date, but it is still just another in the line of big jobs he has already undertaken and doesn’t necessarily mean he is at the end of his nomadic wanderings. (more…)
It has been another successful weekend for Manchester.
City, in particular, looked mightily impressive against Stoke and United managed to keep the back door shut against Liverpool.
Despite Mourinho being criticised, totally ridiculously, for Liverpool’s inability to score, a draw is still a good result at Anfield.
Certain pundits, such as the idiot Garth Crooks at the BBC, thought United should have attacked Liverpool and tried to win the game, a tactic which could easily have gone pear-shaped and resulted in the first loss of the season. No, José got it spot on and, had Lukaku not shot straight at Mignolet when clean through, he could have been celebrating another one of his famous smash-and-grab acts. (more…)
Regular readers could be forgiven for thinking that this has to be the easiest question we have ever posed. Why? Because it has to be the Manchester City midfield based purely on the fact that they have scored more goals than anyone else, and by quite a distance.
Whilst there is an element of truth to this argument, the City midfielders are assisted by the fact that they are currently the best team in the league and also that most of the chances they are creating are being converted into goals, which is a testament to how good their strikers are. (more…)
In an eagerly anticipated game at Anfield the early Saturday kick-off saw Liverpool face Manchester United. Quite why these games are so eagerly anticipated is beyond the ken of simple folk such as ourselves.
They are often dour affairs with both teams more scared of losing than they are motivated by winning.
At least Liverpool did try to win the game but Manchester United, who had ONE shot on target throughout the ninety minutes, should be kicking themselves for not taking a more attacking approach. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 