Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea Need To Win The Champion’s League!

Posted: February 16, 2016 in Champions League, Chelsea, Football, Opinion
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The Champion’s League suddenly has a new significance for Chelsea this time around. Winning it looks like their best, if not only, route back into it next season.

A dismal Premier League campaign which only started to turn around when Guus Hiddink replaced Jose Mourinho was, at one stage, seeing them involved in a relegation battle. Although Hiddink hasn’t pulled up any trees he has steadied the ship somewhat and Chelsea now sit in twelfth position which is only “very” embarrassing as opposed to the “extremely” embarrassing position of a couple of months ago.

The problem with winning this competition is that Chelsea, in all their years competing, have only managed to do it once. Having lost a final against Manchester United, on penalties, they could say they were a little unlucky. They weren’t, they were outplayed for most of the game and were fortunate to hang on for penalties.

The year they won it has to go down as one of the most fortuitous campaigns ever witnessed in the history of the Champion’s League. They should have been hammered by Barcelona in the semi-final, where players were sent off and penalties were missed and, in fairness, having got through to the final, most people agreed that Chelsea’s name was on the trophy that season. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Is Louis Van Gaal Still Manager Of Manchester United?

Posted: February 15, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Louis van Gaal is still sitting on the throne at Manchester United.

Nobody really understands why, apart from maybe Ed Woodward. Van Gaal should have been van Gone weeks ago.

As I have already chronicled it makes no sense to keep him until United can mathematically win nothing or qualify for the Champion’s League. Let him go, put him out of his misery. More to the point, put the long suffering supporters out of their misery. Give Mourinho or Giggs a shot at the remainder of the season, it can’t really get worse!

The problem has been evident to everybody except van Gaal and Woodward for quite a while. In fact, the penny does now seem to have finally dropped with van Gaal. He’s suddenly turned into David Moyes in the way he is doubting that United will achieve fourth position or better.

He is certainly achieving very little more than Moyes did and is currently worse off, having spent around ÂŁ187 million more, than his predecessor. Read the rest of this entry »

Arsenal & Chelsea’s Twelfth Man, The Referee?

Posted: February 14, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Opinion, Premier League
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What is it about Stamford Bridge and the Emirates? Are referees under instruction that Chelsea and Arsenal are not allowed to lose? Does the game have to go on until they win? It always appears to be so.

In the Sunday game between Arsenal and Leicester, Martin Atkinson had given Leicester a first half penalty for a foul on Jamie Vardy, obviously forgetting that the game was at Arsenal’s home ground and he had just committed a cardinal sin.

Fortunately for Arsenal, he was reminded at half-time, probably by Arsene Wenger, of his obligations to the home team. So, in the second half he set about, not only evening things up, but ensuring that they tilted in Arsenal’s favour.

Firstly he sent off Danny Simpson for a nothing challenge which he deemed as a second yellow card. This, in his eyes, would give Arsenal the advantage numerically and should ensure that they won the game. It did bring about an equaliser through Theo Walcott and, at this stage, a draw would have been a “fair”, if slightly tainted, result.

Martin Atkinson was having none of that though. Having found four minutes of additional time from somewhere only he knew, he actually played an additional five and a half minutes, allowing Arsenal to score the winner. Of course, as soon as Leicester kicked off from the goal, the whistle was blown for full-time. Read the rest of this entry »

There Is No Logic As To Why Louis Van Gaal Is Still In Charge Of Manchester United

Posted: February 13, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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So, Louis van Gaal would feel betrayed if Manchester United were speaking to Jose Mourinho about the manager’s position at United, would he? He has just led United to a defeat at Sunderland which leaves them six points away from the top four who all now have a game in hand. The chances of finishing in the top four are now very remote so, therefore, his spending of ÂŁ258 million on new players was both wasteful and unwise.

As a United supporter of more than fifty years I would feel completely betrayed if United WEREN’T talking to Jose Mourinho, I couldn’t care less what van Gaal thinks! He is not the man for Manchester United and the only people who don’t understand this are van Gaal himself and Ed Woodward.

Just to be straight, I have absolutely no time for Ed Woodward who, since amazingly being placed in charge of football matters, has overseen one disaster after another.

Starting with the appointment of David Moyes, a man with no big club experience and no trophy winning experience, through the purchase of Marouane Fellaini for ÂŁ4 million more than was necessary due to a missed release clause, it continued with the joke that was the Angel Di Maria transfer, the sacking of Moyes AFTER it became mathematically impossible to finish fourth or better, giving the next manager no chance of a relatively successful start. Read the rest of this entry »

Now The Clown Van Gaal Is Blaming Paul Scholes For Manchester United Problems!

Posted: February 12, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Scholesy reacts to the news that, according to one expert, everything negative about United is his fault!)

Does the madness of King Louis show no sign of abating? Fresh from blaming his players for not rewarding themselves in the draw against Chelsea, he now blames Paul Scholes for anything negative in the camp, or on the bus, or in the dressing room.

The article explaining all this is in the Daily Telegraph and can be found here.

In a game where United looked reasonably comfortable until HE changed the shape and brought on three subs, which automatically gave the initiative to Chelsea, the end result should have been a 0-1 to the Reds. HE messed it up and then set about blaming the players for not following his instructions and giving the ball away and not defending properly.

He was right about losing possession and not defending but these were the players HE had picked, HE had trained all week and HE had become acquainted with over the last eighteen months. If he still does not know what they are going to do in a game, after all this time, then it is definitely Mourinho time. Read the rest of this entry »

Does Jose Mourinho Have Any Competition For The Manchester United Job?

Posted: February 11, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Are there really three candidates? It’s doubtful, but we look at them anyway!)

Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho is by far and away the most qualified for this prestigious position. He also has the added advantage of actually wanting the job! Currently out of work, there would be no compensation to pay and the transition from van Gaal to Mourinho would be seamless.

Having won titles and Champion’s leagues with different clubs in different countries Jose has proven on many occasions that he is the right man for the job.

Unlike David Moyes, he would not find the task daunting or too big and would relish the opportunity of pitting his wits against Pep Guardiola again, this time in Manchester. Unlike Louis van Gaal, his methods and tactics are not so dated that the players would have to bale him out if the going got tough.

Quite why he hasn’t been appointed just yet is a bit of a mystery to a lot of United fans. It certainly doesn’t look like this team is going to achieve Champion’s League qualification but, if they were to bring in Mourinho now, there would still be a possibility. Then it wouldn’t look quite as bad on van Gaal who, by the end of this season, will have spent two years and ÂŁ258 million on taking the team backwards! Read the rest of this entry »

Why On Earth Would Massimiliano Allegri Even Consider The Chelsea Job?

Posted: February 10, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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Juventus have won seventeen of their last eighteen games in all competitions. They are only two points behind Serie A leaders Napoli, who they play on Saturday. They are through to the last sixteen in the Champion’s League, where they will play Bayern Munich and they are in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, where they will play Inter Milan.

Massimiliano Allegri is an Italian, born in Livorno and enjoying great success in his home country.

If reports are to be believed then Roman Abramovich would like Allegri to give up all he has worked for in the last couple of years to go and manage, what is currently, a mid-table team under-achieving on an almost weekly basis.

To contest the Champion’s League next season Chelsea will need to win it this one! Other than the “challenge” of managing in the Premier League and a pay rise what can Abramovich offer to Allegri to motivate him to leave a very comfortable comfort zone?

Unless Allegri wants to test himself in a league where there is, generally, more competition than anywhere else in Europe, and maybe learn English, then this is a move which does not make any sense. Read the rest of this entry »

The Chinese Super League Is An Agent’s Dream

Posted: February 9, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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A new brothel has been brought to the attention of the football authorities in Europe, (whoever they happen to be right now). This new brothel allows it’s leading prostitutes to make more money than they could ever have dreamed of had they just continued to ply their trade in Europe where they would only become multi-millionaires. Here, at the newest footballing outpost on the planet, they can become billionaires.

China has decided to take that football game seriously. They have taken the very scientific approach of commissioning case studies to find out what the average European footballer is driven by, what motivates him to get out of his goose-and-duck-down duvet covered emperor-sized bed every morning for a couple of hours training before getting back under it shortly after lunch.

Obviously, they also need the same player to perform for his public at least once, maybe occasionally twice, per week, which means that the poor souls may have to play 180 minutes of football during a seven days period.

What could they possibly use to entice players who already have everything that money can buy? Yes, you guessed it! Even more money! Read the rest of this entry »

What Would Jose Mourinho Bring To Manchester United?

Posted: February 9, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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1. A Winning Mentality

Wherever Mourinho has been he has won trophies. Beginning with Porto back in his homeland all those years ago he took this unfancied team to Champion’s League glory. Obviously, domestically he had already won the Portuguese league in order to qualify.

Since leaving Porto for Chelsea he has had one success after another. In fact, since his first club, Benfica, back in 2000 he has managed clubs in a total of 765 games winning 505, a win percentage of 66.01%

It must also be remembered that this success hasn’t always been with the biggest clubs, but some of it has. This brings us to the next point:

2. Big Club Management Experience

Mourinho, as we know, has won the Champion’s League with Porto, in Portugal and Internazionale in Italy. He has also won domestic titles in Portugal, Italy, Spain and England. He has proven, unlike van Gaal and even Guardiola, that he can do the business when there is realistic competition around. Read the rest of this entry »

Louis Van Gaal Needs To Look At Himself, Not The Manchester United Players!

Posted: February 8, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal

(Louis adopts the pose which would immediately endear him to the majority of  Manchester United fans!)

He’s a card is old Louis! You have to admire him really. After all, once his fleeting visit to these shores is over, who will fill the void left by his departure? Is there any other self-confessed genius who could step into the role? Well actually, yes there is, there’s Jose Mourinho but that’s another story.

Fresh from snatching a draw from the jaws of victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Louis was immediately looking for scapegoats. Was it HIS team selection? Never! What about HIS tactics? No chance, perish the thought! How about players not following HIS instructions? Now, there’s a possibility. And, if the players don’t follow the manager’s instructions who’s fault is that? The players of course, according to King Louis. He is the manager, he can do no wrong, he can only do right!

Having taken off Marouane Fellaini, who had chugged his way through the game like a Belgian Thomas The Tank Engine and replacing him with Morgan Schneiderlin, the United players set about trying to defend their one goal lead. They did this by the further substitutions of Memphis Depay, on for Lingard and Ander herrera, who came on for Juan Mata.

The substitutions had a very negative effect in that United immediately started giving the ball back to Chelsea as soon as they won it. Read the rest of this entry »

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