as

José Mourinho’s current Manchester United team is good, of that there is little doubt. Points-wise, they are the second best team in the Premier League having risen from being the sixth best last season. A definite improvement!

They are also in the final of the FA Cup this year as opposed to the Carabao Cup last year. Although viewed as a higher status trophy, reaching this final is probably only marginally tougher than the old League Cup but still a slight, but definite, improvement again! Read the rest of this entry »

as

José Mourinho, regardless of how many times he may argue to the contrary, is a manager who wants to win trophies.

It could be said that ALL managers want to win trophies but, for some reason, Mourinho is wired up in such a way that his desire to win competitions trumps any other footballing emotion that may exist within his slight frame.

ArsĂ©ne Wenger was driven to win trophies but it was also important to be judged on the style of his teams and the perfect example would be the “Invincibles”. That particular season is probably the one of which the Frenchman is proudest yet they only won the Premier League that year. Read the rest of this entry »

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In a mixed competition weekend for football the Premier League was not really going to see much change at the top. With the title already in the delivery van and marked for Manchester the only battles left are for the rest of the top four.

With United and Spurs in FA Cup action and Chelsea not playing the path was clear for Liverpool and Arsenal to gain some ground on their rivals.

We will have more to say on the Arsenal situation tomorrow but, for now, we concentrate on the Saturday games. Read the rest of this entry »

mkandg

Although it pains him every single time he mentions it, José Mourinho has been reasonably quick to point out that Manchester City have won the Premier League title on merit. They have been the best team and have produced the best, and most attractive to watch, performances.

By definition, and something you won’t hear the Portuguese admitting, they also have the best manager.

So what does he intend to do about it next season? Can United really raise their game to be more of a challenge to Guardiola’s team? If they want to win the title the simple fact of the matter is that they have to. Read the rest of this entry »

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Manchester United got back to winning ways with a reasonably convincing win away at Bournemouth on Wednesday evening.

Mourinho rang the changes, as he said he would, but nobody really believed him when he said the players were playing for a place against Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-final.

If that was the case then Alexis Sánchez won’t be playing as he didn’t feature at all, despite sitting on the bench for the whole game.

Neither of United’s answer to Waldorf and Stadler played for one minute so can we expect them to be left out against Spurs. They should be using Mourinho’s logic as Darmian and Shaw did nothing wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

muf

As regular readers will be aware, this little old publication is, ostensibly, dedicated to Manchester United with a reasonable amount of due deference given to that other club in the city, City!

There are also mentions for other teams from time to time as we like to spout forth on many aspects of top Premier League life but it is mainly United to which we dedicate our pages.

As a Mancunian, it has always been a source of surprise and, sometimes, dismay to hear the way the two sets of supporters go on about the other club. There are City fans who hate United and there are United fans who feel the same about City. Read the rest of this entry »

jmr

The short answer to that one is; none.

Having said that, the likelihood of David De Gea being sold unless he wants to be sold is practically zero. The same can probably be said about Romelu Lukaku who, in his first season and with plenty of critics, has still managed to score 26 goals in all his appearances to date.

Alexis Sánchez would also be on the “unlikely to be sold” list as he is a genuinely world class player and Mourinho will expect to see the best of him next season when he will have had a full pre-season build-up with the squad.

Nemanja Matić, as a Mourinho favourite, is probably also safe from the chop.

Anybody else would appear to be fair game. Read the rest of this entry »

jandp

Manchester City have been confirmed as Premier League champions with five games still to play. After just a few games of this season it was pretty obvious that they were the favourites to win it and it really shouldn’t come as a major shock to anybody that they have.

What has been disappointing is the gulf in class between them and the rest. Only Liverpool have tried to challenge them on an entertainment level and JĂĽrgen Klopp seems to have the edge over Guardiola when their two teams meet.

The expected challenge from Chelsea never materialised, Mauricio Pochettino is not yet at the same level and Stubborn Old Man is just past it. Read the rest of this entry »

mandg

José Mourinho has decided that Manchester United deserve more respect and admiration than they have been getting recently.

They will finish the season in second position in the Premier League and already have more points this season than their total of last. They are in the semi-final of the FA Cup where they have an historic away game to Tottenham Hotspur so their season, at this late stage, could be said to have been reasonably successful.

The negatives, however, cannot simply be ignored. Losing to Bristol City in a Carabao Cup quarter-final was seen, by some supporters, as unforgivable. Many of the supporters who did forgive that lapse were quick to reverse their decision when United went out of the Champion’s League to Sevilla in another game they were expected to win, but lost. Read the rest of this entry »

jm

Poor little Manchester United are considering expanding Old Trafford so that they can increase their rip-off seating potential to more than 80,000 fans because they don’t currently make enough money!

The additional seating would be installed in the Sir Bobby Charlton stand which raises a couple of issues when taking the surroundings into account.

Firstly, there is the fact that there are houses very close to the ground behind this stand and, secondly, there is also a railway line. For any lengthy construction work to take place there is no way the ground could stay open for matches because of the problems this would cause to residents and commuters. Read the rest of this entry »