Archive for the ‘Managers’ Category

Of The Top Six Only Manchester United And Manchester City Have The Perceived Disadvantage Of Remaining In Europe

Posted: February 23, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Barring a miracle at The Emirates, Arsenal are out of the Champion’s League. Surprise, surprise! Beaten again by Bayern Münich, although the opponent in the round of Arsenal is largely irrelevant, whoever they played would have won the tie. It’s surely time for Arsene Wenger to seek a different challenge.

Tottenham Hotspur, who weren’t good enough for the Champion’s League and so thought they would quite like a crack at the Europa League, proved that they couldn’t hack it at that level either, beaten by Gent, one of those Belgian teams with no good Belgian players because they are all playing in England for teams such as Tottenham Hotspur. (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…)

Will The Top Six Keep Their Current Managers Next Season?

Posted: February 13, 2017 in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Chelsea, European Football, Everton, Football, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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The current top six are unlikely to remain with their present managers for too long unless they find a way of sharing the trophies between them on an annual basis.

The Holy Grail, however, remains the Premier League title but with half an eye on winning the Champion’s League, (unless you are Arsenal, in which case just qualifying for the competition is sufficient).

If, this season for example, sees Chelsea win the title, City, United and Tottenham finish in the top four and Liverpool and Arsenal making up the remainder of the top six then little should change for next season. (more…)

Manchester United’s José Mourinho Experiences Déjà Vu, But On Behalf Of Claudio Ranieri!

Posted: February 6, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Rewind to a time not much more than twelve months ago. Stood on the touchline at the Kingpower Stadium was a manager whose team looked bereft of ideas, short of a leader and heading in one direction only, downwards.

José Mourinho, when interviewed after that 2-1 loss to Leicester City, unashamedly blamed his players for not following orders. This despite the fact that, as he well knows, the ultimate responsibility lies with the person who picks those players.

Roman Abramovich obviously concurred with the opinion that the manager was at fault and Mourinho was out of work. (more…)

Can The Top Six Be Breached? Not If Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United Or City Have Any Say In The Matter

Posted: February 5, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Everton, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Ronald Koeman must resign himself to the fact that a challenge to break into the top six will probably have to wait until next season. Some wise spending in the Summer transfer window and his astute management should see a more concerted effort from Everton next time out.

He will certainly be expected to improve upon the finishes of Roberto Martinez and David Moyes as he has a sizeable amount of cash available thanks to the new owner, Farhad Moshiri. (more…)

The Things We Have To Put Up With To Watch The Beautiful Game

Posted: February 4, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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As regular readers of these chronicles will be aware, there are several amongst the football fraternity who are, to put it mildly, an irritation. We are not just referring to current players in the previous statement, as there are far more irritating people who have never played the game, who have retired from the game or who have dabbled at it and been no better than average.

There are reporters, presenters and referees. There are “celebrity” fans, another horrible expression suggesting that some people are “celebrated” whilst others are completely ignored throughout their life despite the good they may do. (more…)

José Mourinho Has Little Time For Van Gaal Signings At Manchester United

Posted: January 28, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Bastian Schweinsteiger has managed to work his way back as far as the bench. Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay also reached that lofty height and Matteo Darmian has had a reasonable run in the first team, just not in his favoured position. That his best role has been filled by a winger who can’t defend says a lot about Darmian’s future in Mourinho’s team.

Marcos Rojo is almost a regular and Daley Blind flits in and out depending upon the opposition. Luke Shaw is yet to fully recover mentally from his injury and only time will tell if he is going to fulfill his potential and whether or not that will be at United. (more…)

Manchester United And Manchester City Need To Give José Mourinho And Pep Guardiola Plenty Of Time

Posted: January 21, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola, Premier League
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Manchester City and Manchester United are probably the two richest clubs in the Premier League. They have the two most successful and, arguably, best managers. They have the best squads and some of the world’s most expensive players.

The only club which comes anywhere near them in these respects is Chelsea, also with great wealth, a big squad and expensive players. Their manager, however, is an unknown quantity at this level. I suppose it could be argued that Pep Guardiola is in the same situation, but he has won far more domestic honours than Antonio Conte. (more…)

England’s Problems Lie With The Choice Of Managers Not Of Players

Posted: November 11, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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Czechoslovakia, Greece, Denmark and Portugal spring to mind as relatively recent winners of the European Championships. None of the four could be considered as serial winners of competitions.

Wales also stayed in the last competition for longer than England and even managed a 3-1 win over Belgium while England couldn’t even scrape a draw with Iceland and exited the tournament in their usual fashion, ie when there was still plenty of it left! (more…)

Another Battle Of Manchester With Little At Stake For Either José Mourinho Or Pep Guardiola

Posted: October 26, 2016 in European Football, Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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Well here we are, dear readers, preparing for the second Manchester derby of the season and we’re only in October!

Regular followers of this irregular missive will have noticed that I have, on occasion, seen fit to bemoan the way that cup draws seem to bring the Manchester clubs together, before the final, on a fairly consistent basis. They seem destined never to get to the altar, always having to have a sordid little affair long before the big day ever dawns which then, invariably, belongs to somebody else. (more…)

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