This is an argument that has been around for the last few years. Chelsea and Liverpool should have a better chance of challenging for the Premier League title because they are not involved in any form of European competition.
When Liverpool ruled Europe during the 1970’s and early 1980’s, not playing in Europe didn’t seem to be much of an advantage to the other clubs then, and there were more of them as European competition didn’t admit nearly as many teams as it does now! (more…)
Not to mention Everton, the dark horses, so I won’t. Mention them, that is.
After only six games of the new season the great British press, the fourth estate, the paragons of virtue, trust and truthfulness, have decided who is going to win the title, who is going to get relegated and which managers are going to be sacked before and after Christmas. (more…)
José Mourinho and the Manchester United supporters will hope it was just a blip, just one of those things. Losing to City was inexcusable but not a major shock. Feyenoord was a bad performance, which can happen. The Watford loss was the worrying one.
This was a game from which United would have been expecting three points, at worst one point, but they ended the day with none. The trip home would have been very quiet. (more…)
Why is it that a new manager coming into a club can often achieve excellent results with exactly the same players who were responsible for the previous manager being fired?
On the flip side of that, why is it that a new manager coming into a club can often achieve nothing with the same players or even after adding a few of his own?
The answers to these questions are not as complicated as you might think. (more…)
The same may possibly be said about Antonio Conte but, as yet, we don’t know enough about him or his motives to put forward a case one way or the other.
Other older managers such as Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Robson and even, to a lesser extent, Manuel Pelligrini, Louis van Gaal and Claudio Ranieri took jobs at clubs where there was a challenge. (more…)
After three games the top three in the Premier League had an air of predictability about it. José Mourinho had taken over at Manchester United, Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Antonio Conte at Chelsea. All three, at this stage, had 100% records.
Arsene Wenger soldiered on at Arsenal starting with his annual first game of the season loss at home. Jürgen Klopp continued in his manic way while, over the park, Ronald Koeman quietly got on with things leaving the other “bigger name” managers at the “bigger clubs” to hog the limelight. (more…)
In the first two or three weeks of the Mourinho reign at Manchester United it became fairly obvious that the leopard was trying to change some, if not all, of his spots.
He and the players were seen arriving at games in the standard issue club blazer and tie. He even managed to fasten the top button on his shirt. (more…)
Manchester City have once again been told that they are in the “Group of Death”. This should come as no surprise to either the supporters or to anybody connected with the club. Manchester City always get drawn in the “Group of Death”.
The problem here is the inferiority complex which could develop through this attitude. Why is this the toughest group from which to qualify just because it contains Barcelona? Over two games I would expect City to take at least one point from Messi and co. This leaves Borussia Mönchengladbach and Celtic. From these four games I would expect at least eight points which would give them a total of nine, more than likely enough to see them through in second place. (more…)
It means, quite simply, that for the first time this season, Manchester United and Chelsea have failed to win a game whilst Manchester City march on unbeaten and undrawn, (is that a word?). This in turn, in the grand scheme of things, means absolutely nothing!
No doubt the press will be rattling on about how Manchester City are the best team in the league and how they will win it at a canter. Also about how José Mourinho needs to sort out the Manchester United problems and how Antonio Conte will have to tighten up the Chelsea defence. (more…)
The first thing we learnt was that José Mourinho, by his own admission, started with the wrong selection of at least two players.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan had been sent home from the Armenian squad due to an injury picked up in their first game. It was patently obvious that the derby game against Manchester City was too soon after the injury and that he hadn’t recovered sufficiently to be effective. This was shown in his sluggish first half performance which resulted in him being replaced for the second half. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 