Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

Fanpower Sacks Van Gaal And Appoints Mourinho. Or Does It?

Posted: May 23, 2016 in Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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Louis van Gaal is finally gone. After two years of boring, monotonous, sideways-backwards and sleep inducing football, he has finally been invited to do one to his villa in Portugal where he can send his family to sleep with tales of his tactical brilliance whilst managing to win one trophy during his time at Old Trafford.

Has fanpower finally managed to dethrone the king? It is highly unlikely that this was the main reason, although it will have come into the thought process. In fairness, if the fans had managed to get their way then van Gaal would have been gone before Christmas.

United have made exactly the same mistake with van Gaal as they did with Moyes which was leaving him in charge until it was mathematically impossible to qualify for the Champion’s League. In both instances a replacement should have been given the opportunity much earlier.

It is hard to understand why both managers were given as long as they were when both tenures ended in relative failure and that outcome was an obvious one from very early in both campaigns. (more…)

When Jose Mourinho Arrives, Woodward Needs To Go!

Posted: May 22, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Challenging at the sharp end of the Champion’s League. Challenging for the Premier League title. Mounting serious attempts at both the FA Cup and Capital One Cup.

These are all answers to the question, “Where would you expect Manchester United to be this season?”

These answers would probably have been a lot closer to the truth had Ed Woodward had the courage to sack Louis van Gaal when it became apparent, to everybody except Woodward, that United’s season was actually going nowhere and that a replacement was required.

This became the case reasonably early in the season. United were out of the Capital One Cup almost as soon as entering it and the Premier League challenge was faltering virtually from day one. Elimination from the Champion’s League at the group stage just heaped more humiliation on a once great club.

Now was the time for Ed Woodward to stand up and be counted. To be a hero in the eyes of the United fans he needed to get rid of van Gaal. What he didn’t need to do was dither. Ed had proven himself remarkably good at dithering. (more…)

Manchester United Should Recruit Leicester’s Recruiter!

Posted: May 1, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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The last time I was present at a Manchester United versus Leicester City game at Old Trafford was on March 18th, 1967. I have been to Old Trafford many, many times before and since but only ever once when they played Leicester. The game sticks in the mind for two reasons. The first is David Herd scoring the first goal and breaking his leg in the process when falling over Gordon Banks whilst in the act of shooting. The second is the scoreline of 5-2 to United.

Back then, Leicester didn’t have a bad team, it just wasn’t very good. Now the situations have been completely reversed. At the moment United don’t have a bad team, it just isn’t very good. An example of how far down in the estimation of even ex-players the club has gone was typified recently by Denis Law. He was asked if he thought his team of the sixties would beat the current one. He thought for a moment and replied, “yes, I think so, 1-0.” When the interviewer wondered why such a low score Law replied, “well, we’re all in our seventies now!”

The difficulty for the majority of the United fans, particularly those who comment on popular social networking sites, is that they do not possess a sense of humour. It is also true that many of them have never even been to Old Trafford.   (more…)

Mourinho To Replace Van Gaal, (Eventually)?

Posted: April 18, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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So, the big question is: Is Jose Mourinho taking over from van Gaal at United or not?

The answer to this question should be very simple. Even the most anti-Mourinho supporters are now in the “anyone but van Gaal” camp. Mourinho certainly fits the “anyone but van Gaal” criterion.

So what is the problem? What is holding up the proceedings? Is it Woodward? Is he so stubborn that he doesn’t want to sack the second manager he has appointed? Would being removed from overseeing all things football be such a tragedy for him? That is what appears to be his biggest fear.

He has an awful record since replacing David Gill both in management appointments and in transfer dealings. His appointment of David Moyes, on a seven years contract was just idiotic. This was followed by van Gaal. He was, in fairness, appointed for all the right reasons, he just went past his sell-by date very quickly and Woodward seems loathe to accept the fact. (more…)

Now The Idiot Van Gaal Has United Out Of The B Competition

Posted: March 17, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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When the teams were announced before the game and James Milner was going to be playing at left back for Liverpool, myself and Paul Scholes both thought the same thing: play Martial on the right to have a run at him.

What did van Gaal do? Played Mata on the right! Apart from being slow, very left-footed and useless as a winger this was a stupid move. He also played Lingard, who should be dropped, on the left and he looked completely clueless.

Another stupid move was playing Varela at right back when he has the Italian right back sat on the bench. Darmian has nineteen caps for Italy so surely he is good enough for this Manchester United team!

Fellaini was retained in midfield for no apparent reason and huffed and puffed without ever achieving anything. (more…)

Why Oh Why Is Van Gaal Still There?

Posted: March 13, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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(Louis, as he appears in my dreams, waving goodbye to Manchester United. It is long past the time when this dream should have come true)

West Ham are now favourites to progress to the semi-finals of the FA Cup having drawn with Manchester United at Old Trafford 1-1.

Liverpool are favourites to progress to the last eight of the Europa League having beaten United at Anfield 2-0.

The Red Devils currently lie sixth in the Premier League and look like missing out on a place in next season’s Champion’s League, unless Arsenal collapse, (which is a possibility), and/or City continue their current winless run.

This, to a deluded Dutchman, is progress. According to him his three year plan is well on track. Well, unless his three year plan was to waste millions of pounds on average players, finish in a lower league position each year and win absolutely nothing, then he is not on track. In fact, he is so far off track that he is in serious danger of requiring a psychiatrist to explain his problems to him. (more…)

How Can Manchester United Even Contemplate Keeping Louis Van Gaal When Jose Mourinho Is Available?

Posted: March 6, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Recently I have been reading that the last three results have turned Louis van Gaal into such a good manager that Manchester United couldn’t bear to see him leave at the end of the season and would like him to stay on for his contracted final year.

The last three results have been the Europa League win over FC Midtjylland, who would just about survive the first division in England, followed by a good 3-2 win over Arsenal, who were abysmal and ending in a very fortuitous 1-0 win over Watford, a game in which they were lucky Watford didn’t score three.

With the exception of the Arsenal game, the other two again papered over the cracks and certainly made van Gaal look a lot better than he really is. The problem when this happens is that some people actually believe he is good, only for a short while, but long enough for the damage to be done.

Louis van Gaal has, basically, had his day. He cannot live with the modern game, particularly in the Premier League where he has never managed before. He is far too arrogant to admit it and prefers to rely completely on excuses when his team loses. (more…)

Normal Rubbish Has Been Resumed By Van Gaal And Manchester United

Posted: March 6, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Well, after this result at the Hawthorns, we have learnt something more about Louis van Gaal or, should I say, a previous theory has been confirmed.

When he has a lot of injuries and selection is not a very complicated process the team have been getting results. He hasn’t had the luxury of being able to mess around with formations or philosophies etc. He has had to pick whatever has been available and run with it. This had proven to be quite successful recently.

So, now a couple of the more experienced players are back from injury, why would you change a winning formula? I certainly don’t know, it is a question for the arrogant Dutchman to answer.

Of course, there was no way of knowing that a normally reasonably intelligent player like Juan Mata would decide to become stupid for a ten minute period during which he managed to collect two yellow cards. This was obviously never going to help the cause. He was, however, not one of the returning injured and had played throughout the good spell, so his dismissal, while stupid should not have been terminal. (more…)

Why I Support Manchester United

Posted: March 4, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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The Manchester United I began supporting as a boy were far removed from the Manchester United of today.

I first started going to Old Trafford in 1965 and sat in the Stretford End whenever United were at home. Deemed too young to go to away games, (that was the excuse anyway), my father would take me to Maine Road to watch City whenever United were away.

City never held the same attraction for me as United. It could have been that they were in the second division, it may have been that they had no “star” players, (although they were to acquire some in the near future). The atmosphere in the Platt Lane End of Maine Road didn’t seem to have the same intensity as Old Trafford. So I looked forward to United’s games with far more excitement than those of City. (more…)

United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs & Liverpool. Normal Service Will Resume Next Season!

Posted: March 1, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Manchester United: Not too long ago I wrote an article which described how United weren’t too far away from having a team to win the title. I thought, at the time, that they were short of two, maybe three, top players.

I have since revised my opinion. Whilst playing quite well recently they have relied on injuries to force through some of the promising youngsters. This is a sad indictment on the transfer windows where adequate players were not purchased. If van Gaal sees out the final year of his contract then they will again struggle to reach the top four.

If, however, they take the logical option and appoint Mourinho, then I would make them slight favourites to win it.

Manchester City: Should be a lot closer to winning the title than where they are now. Having said that, with the bonus of the Capital One Cup win, they could very easily go on an unbeaten run that still achieves their goal! (more…)

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