José Mourinho, if asked what he needed would probably say; two things. One would be an injury-free run of games with the best players being available and where points could continue to be collected.
The second would be the fourth signing Ed Woodward failed to secure in the Summer transfer window.
Having signed Romelu Lukaku, Victor Lindelof and Nemanja Matić, Mourinho wanted one more player. (more…)
Tuesday night saw Manchester City face Shakhtar Donetsk, Liverpool played Spartak Moscow and Tottenham Hotspur were in Cyprus playing Apoel Nicosia.
At The Etihad City made relatively hard work of beating Shakhtar who were always threatening on the break. However, a second half goal from Kevin De Bruyne settled the nerves eventually and Raheem Sterling followed this up with a second which he tried his hardest to put over the bar, just failing as it went in off the underside.
That is now two games and two wins with six goals scored and none conceded and is the first time that the club has ever won it’s first two games in the competition. (more…)
Manchester City
Judging by his plea for Manchester City fans to turn up in their thousands for the Champion’s League game against Shakhtar Donetsk, Pep Guardiola is taking the competition very seriously. He has also asked that the Etihad crowd stop booing the Champion’s League music, an act which goes back to when City were fined for contravening FFP regulations, and a plea which may very well fall on deaf ears.
The fans thought the punishment was excessive and a clear case of victimisation which, considering that only City and PSG were fined, and that they were only fined once, is probably true. Here’s the full story if you’re interested. (more…)
It would appear that the top four by the end of this season could very well be made up of the four clubs represented by these players.
Having researched this a little, with the emphasis on “little“, the evidence suggests that, in the main, the teams with regular twenty-plus goalscorers in their ranks are the ones which finish the highest.
Now it could very well be that Sadio Mané of Liverpool and Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal also score twenty or more goals this season, but we think they will fall short of the other four. (more…)
Having recently retired as the “undisputed prediction king – failed abysmally“, (for the time being anyway), our thoughts now turn to new, (or at least re-worked old), ways of filling the column inches.
The first subject which springs to mind is the return of the Champion’s League. You know, that tournament which, according to stubborn old man at Arsenal, has lost some of it’s sparkle. This is what he said. (more…)
Well, avid readers, so far it has been a very mixed weekend in prediction land, which is where WSA has been living for the last 24 hours.
The first prediction we made was that Manchester United may play in grey and would win 3-1.
Wrong! On both counts. They played in black and white which was almost as dull and boring as their performance. (more…)
(“They’re behind you!” Antonio Valencia tries in vain to find his team mates, who have become invisible thanks to that magical grey kit)
Manchester United will have an opportunity to wear their new grey third kit when they play Southampton at St.Mary’s on Saturday. If they do, then it will be the first time they have worn it in the top flight since they wore it in a 3-1 defeat at yes, you guessed it, Southampton.
On that day, back in 1996, Ferguson ordered the team to change their kit at half-time, blaming it for the players having become invisible whilst wearing it and being unable to see each other on the pitch. (more…)
Manchester United began their defence of the Carabao Cup in some style. Whilst they have never actually won the cup under it’s current sponsorship, they did win it last time when it was the plain old EFL Cup.
An easy 4-1 win at Old Trafford over a poor Burton Albion side meant that José Mourinho and his team progress and will now meet Swansea City in Wales in the next round. (more…)
The first question to be asked is; do either of the two clubs really need him? And the short answer to this question is; no, they don’t, not really.
Sánchez is a goalscorer and creator of the highest order and would improve virtually any club for whom he played.
City, however, already have Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jésus scoring goals and, on the creative side, they have Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sané, Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gündogan, Benjamin Mendy, David Silva, Bernardo Silva and Yaya Touré, so it is difficult to see where he would fit into the side. (more…)
At around the same time last year Manchester’s City and United were about to meet each other in the derby, the loss of which was to be followed by a change in fortune for United.
Having started the season, along with City and Chelsea on a 100% winning run they were to go on and draw many games they should have won and finish the season in sixth, whilst the other two, as we all know, finished first and second.
Here we look at the opening few games of the so-called “big six” and compare them, where possible, to results against the same opposition last season. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 