Archive for the ‘Jose Mourinho’ Category

Can Manchester United And Manchester City Turn A Decent Season Into A Good One?

Posted: March 19, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola
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Maybe the manager’s expectations weren’t too high. Maybe the fan’s expectations WERE too high. Either way, for Pep Guardiola or José Mourinho, if the season was to end now, then it hasn’t been that bad.

City would qualify for the Champion’s League through their Premier League position and United would qualify for the Europa League because of their EFL Cup triumph and their position in the Premier League. This may not be exactly how the supporters envisaged it at the start of the campaign but it would still represent a decent season for the two. (more…)

What Jose Mourinho Is Achieving With THAT Manchester United Defence Is Nothing Short Of Miraculous

Posted: March 16, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester United’s problem is scoring goals, or rather, not scoring goals. Their total for the season would be abysmal if Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s tally were to be taken out of the equation.

When United signed the Swede along with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba, it appeared to go a long way to addressing the goalscoring side of things. The fact that he only signed one defender, Eric Bailly, did not necessarily mean that he was happy with what he had, more that there was a shortage of world class defenders available. (more…)

José Mourinho Would Have To Be Very Bad At His Job NOT To Improve Manchester United

Posted: March 11, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Sir Alex Ferguson retired. David Moyes came in. Hailed as the “Chosen One” he rather quickly became the “Frozen One” as results started to go against him. He also managed to break some unwanted records in his time and the list is as follows:-

1 – United suffered their first defeat to Newcastle at Old Trafford in 41 years.

2 – Everton’s victory at Old Trafford confirmed their first league double over the Reds since 1970.

3 – As a result of that defeat, United had won just one of their 12 meetings with the Premier League’s top eight sides that season. (more…)

The Ten Players Holding Back Manchester United And Manchester City

Posted: March 6, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola, Premier League
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It has always been a source of amazement and, occasionally, amusement, to see the quality, (or lack of), amongst the squads of the top clubs. Manchester City and United are no different and there are certainly players within those two sides who are nothing more than average.

This is one of the reasons why they are both behind Chelsea, who have less “below average” players than the rest. (more…)

One Down, Three To Go For Mourinho’s Manchester United

Posted: February 27, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion
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Alright, it may be asking a bit much to expect this team to win the Premier League. They will also need to play considerably better against Chelsea in the FA Cup than they did against Southampton in the EFL Cup, where they proved that it is possible for the better team to lose.

Take Zlatan Ibrahimovic out of that EFL final team, give Southampton back the goal that was wrongly disallowed and the trophy would be heading to St. Marys, not Old Trafford. (more…)

José Mourinho’s Summer Transfer Priorities At Manchester United

Posted: February 26, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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When he arrived at Manchester United it seemed fairly obvious where the problems lay.

After two years with Louis van Gaal in charge, the football was stale and boring. One-dimensional with the tendency to try and keep possession without actually going anywhere. The United faithful quite quickly got fed up watching their team passing sideways and backwards then, eventually, either giving the ball away or simply running out of pitch.

The United board or, more particularly, Ed Woodward finally ran out of patience and even an FA Cup win wasn’t enough to earn van Gaal a contract extension. It didn’t help him that José Mourinho was out of work and available and, more to the point, was the popular choice of the majority of United supporters. (more…)

Hopefully Just “Another Day At The Office” For José Mourinho And Manchester United (And Best Wishes To Claudio Ranieri)

Posted: February 25, 2017 in Chelsea, EFL Cup, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion, Tottenham Hotspur
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As far as cup finals go it isn’t the most prestigious. It isn’t up there with the Champion’s League final or Europa League final. It isn’t even up there with the FA Cup final.

Through all it’s various guises which have included the Milk Cup, the Worthington Cup and the Capital One Cup it has been used as a vehicle for giving fringe players a run of games, certainly by the bigger clubs, who have the squads deep enough to render the exercise unnecessary.

The effect this has on the competition is to take away the giant-killing days. No longer is it a major surprise, or even much of an achievement, when a Championship club at full strength beats a Premier League club fielding it’s reserve team. At least it could be argued that the playing field is level for once. (more…)

Guardiola And Mourinho Are The Angel And The Demon At Manchester City And Manchester United. But Which Is Now Which?

Posted: February 21, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola, Premier League
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José Mourinho is not known as a nice guy. He has fallen out with owners and club presidents, he has fallen out with players and fellow managers. He has fallen out with physiotherapists and club doctors. There are probably not many positions within the world of professional football with whom the Special One has not fallen out at one time or another!

He is, however, finding out that he has a nice side now that he is manager of Manchester United. He hasn’t turned into a serial smiler just yet, but there are signs that his disposition is somewhat mellower than it used to be. (more…)

José Mourinho Has Adapted His Style To Suit Manchester United And Is Now The Perfect Fit

Posted: February 18, 2017 in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Arséne Wenger and Louis van Gaal have a couple of things in common. Firstly, they are both past the 65 years of age mark. Secondly, they have been unable to adapt themselves to compete in the modern football world.

It is now seven years since van Gaal won La Liga, his last major championship title and a whopping thirteen years since Wenger last won the Premier League. Yes they have both won cups since those days but even a blind squirrel will eventually find a nut and they were both managing historically successful teams at the time. (more…)

Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City And Leicester Return To European Action

Posted: February 16, 2017 in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Chelsea, Europa League, European Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola, Tottenham Hotspur
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Well folks, it’s that time of the year again! European competition has returned with the start of the knockout stages of both the Champion’s League and the Europa League.

This article was supposed to be a preview of the two tournaments BEFORE any of the games had been played but, thanks to missed deadlines due to oversleeping, is now published after the first round of them has finished.

Fortunately only Arsenal, out of the English contingent, have played their first leg game and everybody knew what was going to happen before a ball was even kicked. (more…)

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