Yaya Touré played his 316th game for Manchester City in what was a historic occasion both for him and, as it turned out, for the club.
City won the game against Brighton 3-1 and in so doing set a new record for points achieved – 97, goals scored – 105 and wins in a season – 31. These figures will probably change again when they play Southampton in the last game of the season but this is the one where the records were made. (more…)
It’s approaching that time of the year when supporters of football clubs around Europe start to get excited about who their club may buy in the upcoming transfer window.
This period of excitement is usually followed, when the window actually opens, by many days of disappointment as fans get up each morning to the news that their beloved club has bought……..nobody! Not yet anyway.
The thoughts of the majority of managers these days is to get their transfer business out of the way early in the window so that any new arrivals will have the maximum amount of time possible to get to know their new team mates. (more…)
The domestic season isn’t over yet for Chelsea or Manchester United. The European season isn’t over yet for Real Madrid and Liverpool. So some fans still have celebrations in waiting and some have disappointment around the corner.
Both of the aforementioned seasons are over for Arsenal and they will hope for better next time out with their new manager who, hopefully for them, will have more of a clue about winning in Europe than Stubborn Old Man appeared to, despite his twenty-odd attempts! (more…)
An era ended at The Emirates on Sunday. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal played their last ever home game. Next season they will be “somebody else’s” Arsenal and the challenge for the club is to get the appointment of a new manager right at the first time of asking.
Manchester United relied too heavily on the opinion of Sir Alex Ferguson when they appointed David Moyes. (more…)
Manchester City…..
Whilst most of the attention was on the newly crowned title winners being newly crowned, it should also be remembered that this was an important game for Huddersfield Town. They are still not safe from relegation and are only two points off the drop zone.
The possibilities are that they will go down along with Stoke City and, probably, West Bromwich Albion due to our “teams in stripes” theory. This, of course, means there is still a chance of Southampton being sucked through the trap-door as they are also a stripy team but, on this logic, Swansea will be safe! If only all football was this simple! (more…)
Manchester United have an excellent record against the other five members of this season’s top six. They also have a pretty atrocious record against the recently promoted teams.
This was in evidence again in their pathetic performance against Brighton at the Amex Stadium. The roles could have been reversed and it would have been easy to believe that the south coast club were fighting for second place whilst United were trying to avoid the drop!
José Mourinho, as is often the case this season, spoke with his usual forked tongue in his post-match interview with one of Sky TV’s many “masters of stupid questions”, Geoff Shreeves. (more…)
Yesterday we looked at the Liverpool and Manchester City managers, Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. Today it is the turn of Manchester United’s José Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur’s Mauricio Pochettino.
Can they beat scores of 27/30 and 26/30? Let’s see!
Manchester United – JOSÉ MOURINHO
Man-management
José has famously fallen out with players at Real Madrid and Chelsea which suggests that this category is not his strongest. He has also fallen out with other managers, physios and probably his wife on occasion, but those have not affected results or his future whereas the ones with the players almost certainly have! (more…)
This debate is one of overall managerial ability, not just results. We have taken into account man-management skills, motivational skills and overall respect from the players.
We haven’t included either Antonio Conte or Arséne Wenger in this article as they are unlikely to be at their current clubs next season so, to an extent, their abilities are irrelevant
Today we look at the Liverpool and Manchester City managers with the other two discussed tomorrow. So, first in alphabetical order is; (more…)
We are approaching the time of the season when there isn’t much of it left! The Premier League title is done and dusted as are, apart from one possible turnaround, the three places behind the champions.
There is still a scramble at the bottom end but it looks pretty bleak for the stripy clubs. West Bromwich Albion are virtually gone, with Stoke City and Southampton favourites to join them in the Championship. Just above them, Swansea City remain, probably, the only non-stripy club who may be relegated whilst the list is completed by Huddersfield Town. The rest should be safe. (more…)
With Liverpool favourites to progress to the Champion’s League final how likely is it that they will win the trophy in May? One thing is for sure, they will have to defend better against Real Madrid than they did against Roma in the semi-final.
Two seasons ago Manchester City reached the same stage and were defeated by Real Madrid although only by a scoreline of 1-0 over the two legs. What must have been more annoying to Manuel Pellegrini at the time was that City should have won both legs of that tie.
Real Madrid got through to the final without ever having to do anything out of the ordinary and without even playing well. The fault all lay with City who just didn’t appear to turn up either in Madrid or in Manchester. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 