Before the game in Manchester Sir Joe AgĂĽero was given his well deserved award for being good at doing goals.
In fact, he is now the best City player ever at that particular art, having surpassed Eric Brook’s total of 177 when he scored against Napoli in the Champion’s League last week. (more…)
London looms large in this weekends big Premier League games. The top three non-London teams are all playing teams from the capital in a set of fixtures which may give us some clearer indication as to where the title is headed.
Only one of the six played on Saturday so this article serves as a review of one game and a preview of three. (more…)
Yes, folks, believe it or not, the pundits were nearly all in agreement. This season would see the elevation of Everton to top seven status.
This was hardly a mind-blowing revelation as the Toffees finished seventh last season! So what was the point of predicting that they would finish in exactly the same spot?
Well, dear readership, what they meant was that Everton would make seventh spot their own. This they would achieve by virtue of the fact that they now have a very rich man in charge and, not only that, one who isn’t afraid to splash the cash. (more…)
It is now five years since Chelsea, after very fortuitous wins in the semi-final and final, won the Champion’s League. Had they not had that good fortune back in 2012, then it would have been nine years since an English club last won the trophy, that being Manchester United, on penalties, against Chelsea.
Since that Chelsea victory England has had at least four representatives every season with only Manchester City, who reached the semi-final in 2016 under Manuel Pellegrini, getting anywhere near the final. (more…)
Today’s tell-all intends to discover if Manchester’s finest are planning trips to Madrid outside of regular competition time!
The days of Manchester United scoring four goals every time they step onto a football pitch already seem to be long departed and the reason, despite United fans blaming everything from the weather to José Mourinho to Marouane Fellaini being crocked, is because Paul Pogba went and injured himself.
It is no coincidence, (actually, it is), that United stopped scoring multiple goals regularly as soon as Pogba was out of the team. He is not only the strength and power of the midfield but also the creative player who can make a telling pass. He was also contributing to the scoring charts so, all in all, he is a bigger miss than most people thought would be the case. (more…)
Tuesday night turned out to be a night of mixed fortunes for the English clubs in the Champion’s League, as Manchester United beat Benfica to virtually assure their qualification and Chelsea were soundly beaten by Roma in a dreadful performance.
José Mourinho resisted any temptation to play a weakened team even with Sunday’s game against Chelsea looming large in the rear-view mirror.
The idea was to ensure that qualification was guaranteed before the next game in the competition when, thanks to the win against Benfica, he will be able to rest players. (more…)
Five of the big six return to Champion’s League action this week with all of them in a good position to qualify.
The only ones not in a good position to progress to the next phase of this season’s competition are Arsenal, mainly because they are not in it.
They are, however, in a good spot in the Europa League, a competition in which they find themselves competing for the first time in 137 years. (more…)
Back in 2003, when stubborn old man was quite a good manager, his team managed to go through an entire season without losing a single game in the Premier League.
Back in the 1880’s, when stubborn old man was just a small garçon in Strasbourg, Preston North End managed to go through an entire season without losing a single game in both the league and the cup. In doing so they were, and still are, the only one of the seven double winners to achieve the task without losing a game. They also won the cup without conceding a goal.
There is a slight chance that the Arsenal achievement could be matched by Manchester City this season. There is a much slighter chance that the Preston achievement could be matched but City’s defence probably isn’t good enough for that one. (more…)
The early kick-off this week saw the meeting of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.
Much had been made of the fact that Harry Kane would miss the game through injury but very little had been said about United being without Pogba, Fellaini, Rojo and Carrick which, collectively, is surely a bigger miss than just one player!
The game itself was a forgettable affair with United in particular guilty of their usual ineptness in possession and displaying their regular propensity for giving the ball back to the opposition far too easily. (more…)
It’s a bit of a rhetorical question as it is a situation unlikely to happen to ALL of them, and certainly not at the same time, but we like to speculate and it is quite interesting to debate which one would suffer the most.
The obvious caveat here is that it depends upon the games the player in question is likely to miss. Will they be title deciders against big clubs or just end of the season run-outs with little or no meaning?
So we have assumed that, when they lose the player in question, all six have a run of games identical in importance to each other. See if you agree with our choices. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 