Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

Pellegrini Needs Luck, Van Gaal Needs To Go

Posted: December 12, 2015 in Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester City laboured to a first half lead courtesy of a goal by Wlifried Bony, whose marker Ashley Williams, obviously thought they still both played for the same team when he left him alone in the penalty area to head the opener.

City were missing Vincent Kompany, as usual, Sir Joe Aguero, as usual along with Nasri, Zabaleta and Fernando. Rather than play Kolarov, Pellegrini opted for Sagna on the right and my least favourite player, Gael Clichy, on the left. Clichy cemented his position in my mind as an average player by giving the ball away on at least two occasions and doing absolutely nothing else. Jesus Navas was picked so that Kevin De Bruyne could be reminded of his time at Chelsea. Navas, as is his wont at present, was also very ineffectual.

Swansea were restricted to a couple of first half chances, one of which they should certainly have scored from, but didn’t. So 1-0 to City at half-time.

The second half saw Fabian Delph enter the fray in place of Raheem Sterling. Clichy continued to give the ball away. City chased what appeared to be a much needed second goal as Swansea always looked like they might score. (more…)

Louis Van Gaal’s Excuses Wearing Thin

Posted: December 11, 2015 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(“I last saw it over there!” Louis ropes in Ryan Giggs to help him look for the plot he lost a while ago)

Louis van Gaal is looking a whole lot less calm as the weeks go by. He isn’t the type to be too bothered about losing a job and the salary that accompanies it. He is bothered, however, by not being able to finish one of his “projects” and by being deemed a failure. His pride does not allow for either of those scenarios.

If he is allowed to carry on in his job as manager of Manchester United he may face one or both in the relatively near future.

Depending upon your rag of choice, Pep Guardiola is either waiting in the wings for van Gaal to be given his marching orders or going to Manchester City. It would seem that one of Manchester’s equivalent to Waldorf and Statler will be being replaced by the bald, bearded Bayern boss.

In fairness to van Gaal he has had a lot of injuries to contend with. For the next game which, as I write, is against Bournemouth, he has nine first team players unavailable through injury. Manchester City have also suffered an injury crisis to their better players, and Arsenal most certainly have, so it is a situation which is not unique to United. (more…)

Arsenal & Chelsea Get The Job Done

Posted: December 9, 2015 in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion
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Jose Mourinho didn’t need to win this game. He didn’t even need to draw this game. He can be eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage, knocked out of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge by the Wheeltappers and Shunters social club second eleven, and be relegated to the Championship and it won’t bother him a jot. Why? Because he has what nobody else in Britain has had since Lord Ferg retired. He has job security!

He knows Roman Abramovich so well that he knows the innermost thoughts of the Chelsea owner without being told what they are.

Convinced as he is that he has a job for life that still didn’t stop him urging, cajoling and pushing his team hard for the victory which keeps him in the competition if not important in keeping him in a job.

Chelsea were not their last-season-excellent selves, they were just efficient and did a good job when that was what was required. A 2-0 win sees them stagger into the knockout stage where they will lose to either Benfica, PSG or Juventus. (more…)

Van Gaal Tries To Hide Behind Facts

Posted: December 9, 2015 in Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Uncategorized
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(Louis hides behind his folder and hopes nobody will see him)

Louis van Gaal has stated that facts prove the team this year is better than the team last year.

I won’t go down the road of disputing facts, there can only be one winner there. Whether or not they prove that the team is better than last year is debatable, circumstances have certainly been different.

Yes they went further in the Capital One Cup than they did but I would hardly call defeat AT HOME, to a Championship team, an improvement, not when nearly £300 million has been spent. Maybe an improvement having spent that amount of money would be winning it!

As they weren’t in the Champions League last year then yes, that has been an improvement, obviously. So lets compare with the year before that. David Moyes took United to the quarter finals having spent about £28 million. (more…)

Manchester United & City Hope For The Best

Posted: December 8, 2015 in Champions League, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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Manchester City hoped that Sevilla would do them a favour. They weren’t asking for much, just that a team who were already out of the competition should have enough pride and desire to please their fans and beat Juventus, in the process denying them top spot and a marginally easier opponent in the first knockout round.

City’s deal in all this was to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach, thereby enabling them to finish top and get the marginally easier opponent in the first knockout round.

Manchester United hoped that CSKA Moscow would do them a favour. They also weren’t asking for much, just that a team who were already out of the competition should have enough pride and desire to please their fans and beat PSV Eindhoven, in the process denying them qualification to the first knockout round and allowing United to qualify even if they could only manage a draw or even a defeat against Wolfsburg.

What United were hoping for was a safety net in case they couldn’t beat Wolfsburg which, as it turned out, they couldn’t. (more…)

Manchester City Rely On Sevilla

Posted: December 7, 2015 in Champions League, Football, Manchester City, Opinion
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Manchester City have a European tie on Tuesday night that may allow them to achieve what would be a “first” for them.

If they beat Borussia Moenchengladbach and Juventus fail to beat Sevilla, then City will qualify for the next round as group winners. This will be the first time they have achieved that in their Champions League history, following a failure to qualify and two second placed qualifications.

The more likely scenario is that Juventus will beat Sevilla, THEY will qualify as group winners and City will finish second again. All of which means that, in the first knockout round, City could face Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. They could be lucky and get a team which won one of the lesser groups but that would still potentially put them up against the likes of Zenit St. Petersburg, Porto or Atletico Madrid.

At the moment it is all rather immaterial as City can’t even take a point from a team like Stoke City so, even if they were to qualify as group winners, it is unlikely that they would then progress. (more…)

Barcelona Have No Answer To The Combined Might Of Gary & Phil Neville

Posted: December 6, 2015 in European Football, Football, Managers, Opinion, Spain
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(Gary picks up his first “Manager of the Month” award in Valencia and wonders if this is an example of what is to follow)

I watched Gary Neville’s first game when not officially in charge of Valencia. He sat in the stands jumping at every header, moving sideways every time the ball did. He was doing what all passionate managers do, he was living the game, kicking every ball and feeling every tackle.

In fairness, he was right to wait until after this game to take charge. Anything could have happened against Barcelona. Messi was fit again and was alongside the other two musketeers in Suarez and Neymar. If Barcelona scored five, Gary could always say that it “wasn’t on his watch”. He had also had very little time to get to know the players, so it was right that he allowed little brother and Voro to remain in charge for this game.

As it happened, Barcelona had “one of those days”, where they just couldn’t finish off any of their moves, except one, created, perpetuated and finished by Suarez which made us ask, at the time, how many would Barcelona score? The answer was a very simple, “one!” Despite having the majority of possession, hardly an unusual trait for a Barcelona team, they failed to convert the chances they created, and they created a few. (more…)

Manchester’s Miserable Day, City Lose, United Draw

Posted: December 5, 2015 in Football, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester City lost at Stoke in a game where it appeared that they just didn’t fancy it! Cold and windy are conditions that used to favour Stoke in the long ball days of Tony Pulis. Today those conditions weren’t a leveller, as Stoke like to play a passing game and have some skilful players in the team, so the weather affected both teams.

Stoke adapted to it much better than City and were two up by half time, both goals coming from Arnautovic who ended the match with everyone feeling that he should have scored four. Stoke seemed to stroll through City’s excuse for a defence whenever they felt like it.

City were abject in every department. So much so that, by the 65th minute Pellegrini had used all three substitutes. Delph, Iheanacho and Navas coming on for Fernandinho, Bony and Silva. I actually thought that Fernandinho had been OK and was surprised that it wasn’t Fernando who was taken off. He did go off with what looked like a hamstring injury only five or so minutes later. (more…)

Wayne Rooney & His Nasty Ankle

Posted: December 4, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Misuse of Words
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(Wazza can’t quite reach the nasty ankle to check for injury!)

Apparently Wayne Rooney has a nasty ankle. I don’t know which ankle, but one of them is not too nice an ankle.

Having scoured the newspapers I cannot discern which it is because the great British press don’t deem it important that we have this knowledge. Suffice to say that one of the ankles belonging to Wayne Rooney is nasty.

This is the headline that says it all: “Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney will miss West Ham and Wolfsburg with a ‘nasty ankle injury’ confirms van Gaal”. Not, you will notice, a nasty injury to his ankle. There is a world of difference!

Maybe we should be glad that the injury is to his nasty ankle, rather than his nice ankle, assuming that his other ankle actually IS nice.

Anyway, enough speculation. Whichever ankle it is and however nasty it is, the injury has arrived at a very opportune moment for Louis van Gaal. (more…)

Gary Neville, Jurgen Klopp, FIFA & Louis Van Gaal

Posted: December 3, 2015 in Football, Managers, Opinion, Premier League, Spain
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(Louis schools Gary in the art of good management, just in case he ever gets a manager’s job!)

It’s been a funny old week and it’s still only Thursday.

Gary Neville has upped sticks and done one to Valencia, where he will continue to speak a lot but, hopefully at some stage, in fluent faultless Mancunian Spanish.

He will learn to enjoy paella in the home of paella and he will become a connoisseur of fine wine. If he has any time left after all this, he will pop in to the Mestalla to see how little brother is getting on with the football team.

He will lead Valencia to La Liga title in his first and only season and will be given the freedom of Valencia for his efforts.

He will then return to take charge of England after the Euros, whence he will
successfully qualify for and win the 2018 World Cup, wherever it may be. On his return to English soil he will be met at the airport by the Queen who will knight him on the spot. (more…)

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