Chris Smalling To West Brom, Gareth Bale Not Going Anywhere And A Reminder To Ed Woodward

Posted: July 25, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Transfers
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If the press is to be believed, (and why shouldn’t they be?), then Chris Smalling is of major interest to West Bromwich Albion.

He is also rumoured to be of interest to Everton, West Ham, Newcastle, Leicester, Stoke, Crystal Palace and Arsenal with the latter’s interest probably proof of why ArsĂ©ne Wenger should have resigned at the end of last season.

The West Brom move, however, is one of those which would make sense to all parties. Smalling has struggled to play regularly under JosĂ© Mourinho whilst Louis van Gaal didn’t even know his name! Read the rest of this entry »

Is Six Weeks Enough Time For Ed Woodward To Sign Two Players?

Posted: July 24, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Transfers
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Come on Ed! You can do it! Don’t forget to breathe! Breathe! Just a few short weeks to go now and then you can retire to your office in Mayfair and forget all about the football side of the game until January. You can concentrate all your efforts on getting obscure conglomerates to sign massive sponsorship deals.

Of course it will be easier in January because, by then, JosĂ© Mourinho will have worked out that, if he wants two players, he has to ask for four. He just has to be careful of the order in which he asks as he won’t want to be saddled with the two players he didn’t really want. Read the rest of this entry »

No News Is Never Good News For JosĂ© Mourinho Because It Means That Ed Is Dithering Again

Posted: July 23, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Transfers
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WSA gets the impression that José Mourinho is always waiting for news of something. It may be that he is about to get fired and would like to hear about it. It could also be that his wife and kids want to stay in London while he jollies off up to Manchester to slum it in a five star hotel for the duration of his United contract, but he wants to know about it.

He wants to know who is “with him” at Old Trafford and who is “against him“. Who will let him down by refusing to play when injured and who will ignore the pain and fight for the cause? Read the rest of this entry »

Transfer Window Bits & Pieces

Posted: July 22, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Transfers
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Poor Alvaro Morata. Fresh from dyeing his hair red and his wife following Manchester United on Instagram he now has to pretend that Chelsea was always his first choice.

He hasn’t actually said those words but, then again, his English isn’t too good yet.

On arrival at Heathrow airport the player and his wife were immediately hijacked by a Sky Sports reporter who wasted no time in asking those pertinent questions to which we all want an answer. Read the rest of this entry »

The American Manchester Derby

Posted: July 21, 2017 in European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola
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So it is nearly time for the two new BFFs to face off against each other in a Manchester derby unlike any other.

This is the first time the game will be played, not only outside of Manchester, but also, outside of the UK.

A Portuguese coach will square up his team of Spanish, Armenian, French, Italian, Belgian, Argentinian, Swedish, Portuguese, Dutch, Ivory Coast and English players against a Spanish coach and his team of Brazilian, Argentinian, Spanish, Belgian, Ivory Coast, Ukrainian, Turkish, German, French and English players, in the USA! USA! USA! That, folks, is the Manchester derby nowadays. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Do JosĂ© Mourinho And Pep Guardiola Suddenly Want To Stay At Their Clubs For The Long Haul?

Posted: July 20, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Everton, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola, Tottenham Hotspur
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Two managers with no history whatsoever of wanting to stay at a club for more than two or three years. In fact no history, as managers, of actually staying at a club for more than two or three years. Yet there has been a dramatic u-turn by the pair of them and they have now both stated that they want to stay where they are for “a long time“. Why?

Take, for example, Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman. These are two managers who you would expect to crave longevity. They have both previously managed Southampton with very similar records of relative success. This has been a springboard to bigger things with Pochettino moving to Tottenham and Koeman to Everton. Read the rest of this entry »

2. What Are The Odds That The Top Six Managers Will Still Be At The Same Club By The End Of Next Season? – Part Two

Posted: July 19, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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PART TWO – JĂśRGEN KLOPP, ARSÉNE WENGER AND JOSÉ MOURINHO

Continuing to answer our question from yesterday when, in part one, we focused on Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola, today in part two we look at the remaining three of the top six managers and assess the likelihood of them staying with their current clubs.

JĂĽrgen Klopp – Liverpool

Seems to be as loyal as they come nowadays and only left Borussia Dortmund because he couldn’t really take them any further and had ambitions to manage in the Premier League. Read the rest of this entry »

1. What Are The Odds That The Top Six Managers Will Still Be At The Same Club By The End Of Next Season? – Part One

Posted: July 18, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Tottenham Hotspur
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PART ONE – ANTONIO CONTE, MAURICIO POCHETTINO & PEP GUARDIOLA

Probably not as bad as you may think. In fact, of the six, only Antonio Conte is deemed to have the temperament to walk away from a club at the merest hint of disagreement.

Here is what is being said about them individually.

Antonio Conte – Chelsea

As with others on this list, he has a habit of leaving clubs when least expected to do so. The first time was with Bari in Italy. He had just got them promoted to Serie A and had also just signed a new contract when he decided not to continue in the job any longer. Read the rest of this entry »

Next Season’s Title Is A Three Horse Race Between Chelsea, City And United

Posted: July 17, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Everton, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Tottenham Hotspur
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Firstly, we apologise to fans of Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Arsenal and even Everton.

Much as we admire the optimism of the supporters of these clubs we have to think that it is misguided.

With the exception of Arsenal, the other clubs which made up last season’s top seven will be expecting a more successful campaign next time out. Arsenal will just be hoping for one, without any real conviction.

However, judging by recent transfer market activity, only Chelsea, City and United have already improved or will significantly improve their squads and, in Chelsea’s case, not much improvement is necessary. Read the rest of this entry »

Manchester United Stroll To Victory Over LA Galaxy

Posted: July 16, 2017 in Football, Manchester United, MLS, Opinion
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Rising at 4.00am to watch the first game of Manchester United’s latest jaunt to the States was the easy part. Coming to terms with the depressingly familiar team selection was the hard part.

Players who should be long gone were in the starting line up. Hopefully this was a temporary measure and they were only there to advertise themselves to other watching coaches or to protect, as far as is possible, the better players still to appear.

Jones and Smalling began the game and, barring injuries and suspension, they will not be the first choice partnership when the serious stuff begins. Jones is worth a place in the squad, Smalling isn’t. Read the rest of this entry »

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