Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

Can These Three Take United To The Top?

Posted: August 24, 2025 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Rúben Amorim, Transfers
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The short answer to the question posed in the headline is yes, they can. There are, however, caveats as is always the case with United these days. If the question is reworded to read ‘WILL these three take United to the top’? then the reasonable answer is ‘no they won’t’ but maybe with the addition of a couple more quality players, top eight or better can be achieved.

At present the club does not possess a world class goalkeeper which is virtually a must-have asset. This has always been the case and United’s relatively recent periods of dominance coincided with having Peter Schmeichel and then, after a few tailor’s dummies, Edwin van der Sar.

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Amorim Takes Up The Poisoned Chalice At Old Trafford

Posted: November 1, 2024 in Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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Manchester United will have a new head coach in situ by the 11th of November. The significance of this, apparently, is that he is the first ever head coach to be appointed by the club. All his predecessors were, in some cases rather generously, given the title of manager.

As is the case these days at Old Trafford the previous coach/manager was sacked after a long run of poor results and performances.

This exalted little collection of misfits also includes once-great managers such as Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho, a good manager in David Moyes and a pretty bad one in Olé Gunnar Solskjær, (although the totally deluded amongst the Manchester United supporters still pine for a return to the days when the Norwegian spent an absolute fortune to win precisely nothing over a three year period, playing some abysmal football along the way).

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Less Greed More Service. Højlund Needs Supplying!

Posted: November 17, 2023 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Liverpool, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Rasmus Højlund appears to be the real deal. Unfortunately this is not massively apparent at present as none of his so-called providers are the real deal.

Whenever Marcus Rashford passes the ball it is either a short one back towards his own goal or a forced one whereby, unless he passes or crosses, then the ball goes out of play. Rashford’s go-to tactics include blazing shots miles wide or straight at the opposing defender with the occasional variant being tamely giving away possession.

Antony is no better and is very much a one-trick pony. Playing on the right he will cut in and try to shoot with his left foot. The recent results of this tactic have all been shots which, for all we know, are still travelling in an upwards trajectory! His alternative, the right foot, is only good in helping him stand up. He also prefers to lose the ball before taking the better option of passing it.

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What Ten Hag Must Do To Stay In His Role At United

Posted: November 9, 2023 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Eric ten Hag, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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The best James Bond, by a country mile, was Sean Connery. So good in the role was he that Ian Fleming changed his parentage to reflect the fact he spoke with a Scottish accent.

Jeremy Brett, no doubt to the chagrin of Basil Rathbone fans, was the ultimate Sherlock Holmes and nobody, but nobody, has quite mastered the voice and mannerisms of Hercule Poirot anywhere near as well as David Suchet.

The point here is that, although many actors took on the aforementioned roles, only the very best are remembered. The ones who became the character.

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The Full Time Whistle Has Blown For Sir Bobby Charlton

Posted: October 22, 2023 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, European Football, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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It started with a 20 minute walk, 75% of which was uphill. We tried to time it so that we didn’t have more than five minutes to wait for the bus and, in fairness, got it right more often than not.

After the short wait the number 112 bus would come lumbering around the bend by Moston Lane Junior School and come to a halt at the bus stop outside Langhorns, the Ironmongers. We would board the bus and then I truly got the feeling it was match day.

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United’s Decline Stems From The Appointment Of Woodward, Not The Retirement Of Ferguson, (But It’s Still All On The Glazers)

Posted: September 28, 2023 in Arsenal, Eric ten Hag, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Ed Woodward was employed by the Glazers. It was, in many ways, a thank you for the part he had played as an enabler when Malcolm Glazer bought United with very, very little of his own money and a lot of borrowed money. Unfortunately, the collateral for the borrowed money was Manchester United Football Club who, fairly soon afterwards, became plain old Manchester United.

Woodward soon became, in his own mind at least, the most important person at the club. Some good sponsorship deals and profitable alliances were coupled with shocking football decisions which, as he had never kicked a ball in his life, was hardly surprising.

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Weghorst Could Be A Good Short-Term Alternative

Posted: January 14, 2023 in Arsenal, Carabao Cup, Chelsea, Eric ten Hag, Europa League, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Opinion, Premier League, The FA Cup, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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Watching Manchester United currently is like a breath of fresh air compared with the dark days of Ole Gunnar Solskjær and the one-hand-tied-behind-his-back management of Ralf Ragnick.

Whilst Eric ten Hag has brought in a couple of experienced midfielders, a young left back and a centre back in the same mould as Roy Keane the major changes he has made have been those of discipline and mentality.

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Southgate Persists With Management Style Which Can Only Be Described As Solskjær-esque!

Posted: September 29, 2022 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The Nations League, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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As England manager, the choice of decent centre backs is extensive. The England manager also has a wide variety of left backs at his disposal.

Manchester United’s manager, realistically, has to choose from four centre backs to fill two positions and two left backs for that one position. Given his limited options why would Erik ten Hag choose to start with Varane and Martinez whilst benching Maguire and Lindelof? Also, why would he choose to start Malacia over Shaw?

Having comfortably lost their first two games of the season, the above players became the manager’s preferred choice and, apart from a European hiccup when he reverted to the prior selection, United have not lost a game since.

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Manchester United Get Some Of Their Targets!

Posted: September 1, 2022 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Eric ten Hag, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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There may be a new sheriff in town but, unfortunately for him, the posse he sends out to round up the wanted men is full of the same inexperience and clueless leadership as it was under the previous sheriff.

John Murtough, who is described as ‘Director of Football’, was promoted to this role based on previous experience of having coached the academies at Fulham, Everton and United which was followed by trying his hand at sports science!

Another strange promotion was that of Richard Arnold, a clone of Ed Woodward, who was put in overall charge when the hated Woodward finally fell on his sword.

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Where Will United Protests Lead?

Posted: August 23, 2022 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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With the recent protests and pressure from fans around the world, the Glazer family were reported last week to be willing to sell a minority stake in the club. Amid this heated situation and the resulting developments, Joshua Raymond, Director at financial brokerage XTB, has provided some expert commentary on some key points regarding the situation:

What are the main reasons for the protests?

The protest itself is clearly designed to heap pressure on the Glazer family to sell the club and these protestors have been encouraged by rumours of a potential stake sale to US based hedge fund Apollo. It’s prudent to remember the last time we saw large scale protests that garnered mass media attention, the club was forced to pull out of the controversial European Super League. So, there is now form for this sort of tactic by fans, which will not help the stability around the club as long as bid rumours persist.

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