Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

Why Wayne Rooney & John Terry Don’t Need To Defend Their Managers

Posted: January 31, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Many a time, when a manager is under pressure, one of the team’s star players will decide, unwisely, that he should speak up on behalf of the beleaguered boss.

Usually it is the captain who will step forward to the microphone and recent examples have included John Terry, during the last few games of Jose Mourinho’s reign at Chelsea and Wayne Rooney at Manchester United.

The reason it is not necessarily the brightest move to make is because it puts even more pressure on the manager.

The captains in question no doubt feel that they are doing the manager a service by voicing their opinion that the players “are the ones who go out onto the pitch”, and that “the manager can only pick the team, he can’t play the game”, but, in fact, the reverse is true.

Yes the manager picks the team so, it can be argued, he isn’t doing so very well if they keep losing! Also, the captain is indirectly admitting that the players aren’t performing for this manager. So surely it would be better to keep mum and get on with trying to help the manager with the performances ON the pitch rather than OFF it. (more…)

Does Jose Mourinho REALLY Want The Manchester United Job?

Posted: January 31, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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If Jose Mourinho is serious about the Manchester United job he is remaining very calm and quiet about the fact.

It could be said that, by staying completely out of the limelight, he is adopting exactly the right tactics to secure himself the position.

Whether he likes it or not there are obviously detractors at Old Trafford and these are the people he needs to bring onside.

Of the people who matter the chances are that he would have the support of Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill. This would probably be enough to secure the backing of Ed Woodward who, as somebody who knows very little about football, has to rely on the knowledge of others when making managerial appointments. It is also important that he trusts the right people because, at the end of the day, he is the one shouldering the responsibility, hence his reluctance to dismiss Louis van Gaal.

The biggest name in the anti-Mourinho corner seems to be Sir Bobby Charlton, if we can believe what we read in the noble press. Now, however, his dissenting voice is less likely to be heard. (more…)

Manchester United CAN Win A Trophy With Van Gaal In Charge

Posted: January 30, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The FA Cup
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Manchester United beating Derby County in the FA Cup at the iPro stadium was greeted by fans as a return of decent football.

The fact that Derby County occupy fifth place in the Championship and have lost their previous five games is, to a large extent, irrelevant. As is often said, you can only beat what is put in front of you.

The Cup competitions have a levelling effect. Derby, for one game, could give everything. They didn’t have to worry about dropping points, or whether or not a draw would be a good result, they could just concentrate on trying to win a one-off game of football, (unless there was a replay, of course). The fact that the game was against Manchester United just put the icing on the cake. So really, they were in a no-lose situation. A win would have put the cherry on top of the icing on the cake!

In truth they didn’t play particularly well, a fact emphasised by the scoreline, which was a reasonably fair reflection of the game.

Inevitably, the question will now arise, can Manchester United win the FA Cup?
The short answer is, yes, anybody CAN win the FA Cup. Maybe the question should be WILL they win it? That is the more difficult to answer. (more…)

Van Gaal And United Get It Right On The Night

Posted: January 29, 2016 in Manchester United, Opinion, The FA Cup
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(United’s other scorer, Daley Blind, would have been in this photo but he was out of position!)

Yet another “last game in charge” passes by for Louis van Gaal and he still remains in the Old Trafford hotseat! Mind you, if he doesn’t get sacked after losing games at home he is hardly likely to be removed after a 3-1 win away in the FA Cup.

It is reaching the stage now where nobody knows what he has to do to lose this job. Maybe wear a David Moyes mask, as he managed to lose the job with a better record than the Dutchman! Tonight though, was not going to be the last time the Dutchman was sat in the Manchester United dugout.

Having surrendered places in the Champion’s League, the Capital One Cup and the top four of the Premier League, United, at this precise moment in time, only have the Europa League and FA Cup left to play for. So both take on added importance, particularly as the Europa League winners will be granted entry into the Champion’s League next season. Having said that, the United faithful will take a trophy of any description at present!

Before the game Louis van Gaal had said that he hoped that the players would take their form and confidence from the training ground into the match. The problem with training is that it tends to be concentrated on the next opponents so in this case that would have been Derby County. (more…)

Louis Van Gaal, The Modern Day Rasputin

Posted: January 29, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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(Rasputin would have been proud of Louis’ survival instincts!)

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin was a Russian peasant, known as the “Mad Monk”, although he only spent three months in a monastery. He claimed he had powers of mystic healing and prediction. Using these powers he somehow contrived to heal the Royal family’s son of haemophilia. This elevated him into being accepted by Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Aleksandra as, after four girls, this was their only son and heir who’s life he had saved.

The problem was that it made the other high-powered natives restless. They thought that Rasputin was using his new found influence to run Russia as the Tsarina was a really big fan and hung onto his every word. So they decided to do what was always decided to do back then, they decided to get rid of him.

After poisoning him with potassium cyanide, shooting him three times, (once in the head hitting the brain, once in the chest hitting the stomach and liver and once in the back hitting the kidneys), and beating him with a 2lb dumbell they finally managed to kill him by tying him up and throwing him over a bridge into the nearby river. Even then he only died because the river froze over him while he was unconscious, as they didn’t bother to weigh him down with anything!

2016 will be the one hundredth anniversary of his death so it seems only fitting to say a few words about the reincarnated version of Rasputin, namely Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal. (more…)

What Drives The Likes Of Jose Mourinho & Pep Guardiola?

Posted: January 28, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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Given that the top coaches in club football have a few million £/€/$ in their bank accounts, why would they want to take up positions where, at best, they win a trophy at a club where that is the least that is expected anyway and, at worst, they face a humiliating exit, sacked for failing to deliver the least that was expected anyway?

One of the obvious answers to this question is, “not money!” So what is a less obvious answer?

If we take Jose Mourinho as the first example, he is driven by the desire to succeed. As with many megalomaniacs he only desires success at the top level. He doesn’t see taking over a first division side, as Brian Clough did for example, as his type of challenge. It would take too long and Jose craves almost instant success.

Mourinho wanted to win the title in three countries. He has achieved that. He also wants to win the Champion’s League with three different clubs, he is one away from achieving that particular goal. His problem is that, if he were to take a job at a lower league club, then the chances of attaining his particular goals are reduced tremendously. (more…)

Is Jose Mourinho Distancing Himself From The Manchester United Job?

Posted: January 27, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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If Manchester United are trying to distance themselves from Jose Mourinho and put him off the idea of becoming their manager, then they are probably being successful.

Mourinho, as manager of Chelsea, has been able to witness first hand the bungling Ed Woodward at work during the transfer windows. In his first one he managed to overpay for Marouane Fellaini, a player a lot of United fans still haven’t got used to seeing in a United shirt. He did this by missing a release clause expiry date in Fellaini’s contract with Everton, which meant paying £4 million more for a player nobody wanted except David Moyes.

In his second window, having announced that United could afford to buy any player, he then proved what a superlative negotiator he was by spending £15 million more than he needed to on Angel Di Maria, a fact proven when he was sold to PSG a year later for, guess what, £15 million less than was paid for him.

At this stage in his career Mourinho, secure in his job at Chelsea, would have just laughed at the incompetence of it all. It probably confirmed to him that he had made the right decision in returning to Chelsea. He would have been aware that the transfer window jokes would not have surfaced had his friend, Sir Alex, remained in charge and that Fellaini would have remained at Everton and Di Maria would probably have gone elsewhere. Ferguson wouldn’t have fallen for buying him for a year while PSG served their transfer ban and then letting him go to them at the first opportunity. (more…)

Ed Woodward & Louis Van Gaal, Two Men Being Allowed To Ruin Manchester United

Posted: January 27, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester United have given Louis van Gaal more than enough rope to hang himself. In fact, they have given him sufficient to ensure that his feet are able to reach the floor.

According to the Guardian’s Jamie Jackson, Louis van Gaal’s performance as a manager is to be reviewed on a match-by-match basis. The article is here, if you wish to read it.

Yesterday I wrote about the fact that the Manchester United Circus is being run by the head clown. Today, I wish to revise that opinion. It is now a pantomime being run by the Dame. How else can this ludicrous decision be explained?

Van Gaal’s record speaks for itself in it’s level of failure. Even van Gaal himself has finally admitted that he is failing and doesn’t know what to do.

If the press is to be believed he has offered to resign at least once, an offer which should have been welcomed by United, because it may not come again. A resignation would have meant that United didn’t have to pay the remainder of van Gaal’s contract which the, now inevitable, sacking or mutual termination means they will.

Still, for a man who has managed to waste the millions that Woodward has managed to waste over the last three years, this is only a minor detail. (more…)

The Manchester United Circus Needs A Ringmaster, Not This Clown!

Posted: January 26, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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It is not a case of the lunatics having taken over the asylum, not yet anyway. It is more that the clown is in charge of the circus and people are laughing, as they should be when watching a circus.

Manchester United PLC is, to the vast majority of supporters, a massive company such as BP, BT or Natwest Bank for example. Those supporters are not interested in the balance sheets, the profit and loss accounts or the day to day ups and downs of the stock market.

Not in the slightest. There will be some who have shares and therefore take an interest in their performance on the market, but not many.

Manchester United Football Club is different. To the supporters this is THEIR club.
They ARE interested in the day to day goings on at Carrington and Old Trafford, in the same way as, when I was a young supporter, I wanted all the news I could get from the ground and the Cliff.

The point I am making is that, to Manchester United fans the world over, Manchester United is about football and nothing else. (more…)

Will Gary Neville Return To Manchester United?

Posted: January 25, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(The answer to the above question is that he probably will, but as a commentator!)

When Gary Neville’s ill fated stint in charge of Valencia reaches it’s inevitable conclusion, he will have a choice to make.

Assuming Peter Lim wants him to carry on in the role of coach at the Spanish club, which I actually doubt, he will have to make more of a commitment than he has done so far. I think it far more likely that Lim is looking for a replacement as I write.

Moving to Spain when you are a multi-millionaire ex-footballer is not the chore it once was and, indeed, still is for a lot of the less well-off ex-pats. He will have private tutors for his children and one for himself in order to try and learn Spanish, which he will not be able to do in five months, but he should master the basics.

He will have lawyers, solicitors, translators, all at his beck and call to smooth the transition from Manchester to Valencia.

The worst affected in this move will probably be the children, assuming that they have friends in Manchester. As previously mentioned, they will be tutored at home meaning they will rarely come into contact with other children, certainly not the Spanish ones, unless at club functions. His wife will find more well-off British women to pass the time with on the long days when hubby is at the training ground or travelling to away matches. (more…)

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