Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

Arsenal & Chelsea Can Only Make It Three Out Of Four

Posted: November 4, 2015 in Champions League, European Football, Football, Opinion
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Poor old Arsene Wenger. Nobody loves him, except the Arsenal fans.

Even the Welsh national team conspired against him. Aaron Ramsey suffered a delayed injury whilst playing for Wales against Andorra. Nobody really noticed until he had played ninety minutes against Watford, then another seventy against Bayern Munich then crack!! the injury he definitely suffered whilst playing for Wales two games previously, suddenly kicked in. Why oh why didn’t that nasty Chris Coleman tell Arsene Wenger all about it?

The fact that Gareth Bale was also injured in the same match for Wales almost threatened another panic attack for Arsene until he realised that Bale doesn’t play for Arsenal.

So to the game against Bayern which Arsenal needed to take something from if they were to, realistically, have a chance of progressing to the knockout stage. All they ended up taking from it was the realisation that they had met Bayern on an off night at the Emirates two weeks previously. (more…)

Manchester’s European Winners

Posted: November 4, 2015 in Champions League, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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Well, that was better! United actually attacked at Old Trafford and won a game by scoring one more than the opposition. They also managed to win by scoring one more than zero so no need to get too carried away. Being quietly optimistic I would say that the garden has one more rose than it did before.

Louis van Gaal’s theory was proved to be spot on. No one really believed him when he said that, to win a football match, you just had to score one more than the team you were playing against, but tonight his genius was demonstrated emphatically.

His decision to replace Martial with Fellaini was also inspired. Mere mortals, at this stage, thought that if a forward was to be taken off it should be Rooney, who had done very little, rather than Martial who had caused one or two problems to the CSKA defence. In fact, mere mortals wondered why, when a goal was needed, a striker was taken off for a midfielder at all! Worry not, King Louis had everything under control. (more…)

Jose Mourinho, The Friendless One

Posted: November 1, 2015 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion
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Jose Mourinho is a winner, (usually). He is not in the football business to win friends, admirers or even fans. He is in the business to win trophies. In achieving this he may attract some of the aforementioned but, if he doesn’t, he isn’t the type of person to lose any sleep over it.

Having been very successful at every club he has managed, he is now finding out what it is like to be below average. Yes, Chelsea have not only descended from the top of the pile to being average, they have stayed on the elevator for one more downward level to become below average.

What is responsible for this sudden and dramatic downturn? It is not only a collective loss of form, confidence and cohesion, it appears to be a loss of faith and/or trust in the manager. How else can the loss of form of a whole team be explained? (more…)

Manuel Pellegrini’s Perfect World

Posted: October 30, 2015 in Football, Managers, Manchester City, Opinion
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Manuel Pellegrini has a fully fit squad. How does he know? Because his trusty Argentinian valet, Ruben Cousillas, has just told him so.
“Sergio Aguero is fit?” asks an incredulous Pellegrini. “Yes,” says Ruben, “Would you like your toast buttered against the grain or with the grain?”
Manuel turns over to face Ruben and, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, tries to come to terms with this startling piece of news.
“You bring me breakfast in bed and tell me that I have a fully fit squad, what’s the catch?” Manuel is starting to get a little suspicious now, too many good things are happening in one day, and he’s only been awake for two minutes.
“There is no catch, just like the toilet doors at the Etihad.” soothes Ruben, for he knows his boss of old. All this good news is likely to have a very negative effect on Manuel. (more…)

Scholes Versus Van Gaal, Round One

Posted: October 30, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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Paul Scholes wants the best for Manchester United, the fans, himself and probably even Louis van Gaal.

He virtually said as much when praising the quality of coaching which has enabled United to have one of the best defences in the Premier League, without necessarily having many of the best defenders in the Premier League.

What he also said was that he wouldn’t like to play in this particular formation, which is fair comment. Whilst it is set up to retain possession, it often does nothing with it so that at some time, inevitably, the ball either goes back to the opposition or out of play.

Scholes played in United teams that were all about going forward at every available opportunity. He himself was renowned for arriving late into the penalty area to score some crucial goals over the years. That was the football loved by the United fans. It was what won them all the titles, some FA Cups and a couple of Champions League titles. (more…)

Fanpower, Where Has It Gone?

Posted: October 30, 2015 in Fans, Football, Opinion
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‘I always say the same – if the footballing world doesn’t think of the fans, it’s going to lose the passion and the love. So I was impressed but I was very happy because the fans come first here.
They travel around the world, they spend the money, they spend the time so I think we have to be very, very thankful.’

A nice quote from a rich Premier League football player. Is he English? No. Is he even British? No. Of course not, there aren’t any British footballers left in the UK according to all the harbingers of doom.

This is a quote from Manchester United’s Ander Herrera, who can’t yet consider himself a first team regular, although he should be able to.

Having only spent a relatively short time in England he has quickly grasped what makes football what it is. (more…)

The Capital None Cup

Posted: October 28, 2015 in Capital One Cup, Football, Opinion
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(So we reach the quarter final stage of the competition without any London clubs. The only representative from the south of Staffordshire being Southampton. Quite an unusual turn of events).

In stark contrast to the young team Arsenal fielded in their game against Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester United put out a vastly more experienced team in their tie with Middlesbrough. That’s not to say they were a lot older, United’s team contained Jesse Lingard, Andreas Pereira, James Wilson and Memphis Depay. All young players but with more first team experience than the Arsenal youngsters.

I would like to think that this was to show the opposition, the competition and the fans some respect but I doubt that was the reason. As anyone who read my article after the Arsenal game will be aware, I was critical of the lack of respect I thought was shown by Arsene Wenger to the three aforementioned bodies, but I did include the other top managers as well, as they can be just as disrespectful when they think it necessary. (more…)

Where Is The Respect?

Posted: October 27, 2015 in Capital One Cup, Football, Opinion
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When Arsene Wenger fielded a weakened team in the Capital One Cup against Sheffield Wednesday, he got exactly what he deserved. The 3-0 scoreline did not flatter the Owls and they could have won by more.

My question to Wenger, Pellegrini, van Gaal, Mourinho and Ferguson in the past is, do you actually realise how the disrespect is apportioned in this competition?

The first object of disdain is your own fans. They blindly follow where you go, spending hard earned money on tickets, travel and occasionally hotels in order to see their heroes try to win a game of football. The Arsenal fans who travelled up the M1 to Sheffield were cheering the team on and pledging their undying love even when they were 3-0 down. (more…)

Club Versus Country

Posted: October 27, 2015 in Football, International Football, Opinion
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There seems to be more international football matches nowadays than ever before. To me it is an irritant rather than something to look forward to. Here is what I thought about it a just over a year ago.

The football season just starts and we need a break for internationals. We get a month or so further down the line and we need another break for internationals. Some of them are qualifiers, meaningless or otherwise, some of them are just friendlies, meaningless friendlies. (more…)

The Manager’s Turn

Posted: October 26, 2015 in Football, Managers, Opinion
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What next for the Special One?

Jose Mourinho has proved before that he isn’t untouchable at Chelsea. After a while in the job, the brand new suit of armour he always brings with him begins to show signs of rust, before completely crumbling to dust, (or should that be iron filings?)

After short spells at clubs, where he has invariably been successful, he has tended to move on to a different challenge. Having won the Champions League in two different countries his main ambition now is to win a third. He would prefer that to be with Chelsea but, should that not be possible, don’t be surprised to see him at another English club.

He seems to crave longevity now, probably as he gets older the wanderlust isn’t as strong as it once was. Also he has achieved lot of what he set out to achieve, so the idea of actually settling down somewhere for a while must be quite appealing. (more…)

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