A Good January For Manchester United & Van Gaal?

Posted: January 23, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Louis explains why he is not under any pressure despite having spent ÂŁ258 million and having a record worse than David Moyes)

The source of the above statement is the Daily Mirror, (so it must be true!), and it is based on figures from December, 2015. Here is the article.

So the pressure on van Gaal has eased following a, so far, unbeaten January. Why is this?

The month started with a 2-1 win over Swansea who, quite frankly, were awful until around the 80th minute. They then decided to show a little bit of spirit and, almost immediately, scored an equaliser. Once again this demonstrated that United ‘s defence is not the castle wall that van Gaal seems to think it is. Bear in mind that this game was at Old Trafford and Swansea could well be relegated this season, meaning that this result was hardly a reason for ecstasy among the United faithful.

The next game of January saw the reds welcome Sheffield United to Old Trafford. Two divisions below Manchester United, an easy win was expected and should have been delivered. As it turned out it was a struggle from start to finish and again exposed the weaknesses in van Gaal’s team, but this time in the attacking third. It took a penalty in the 93rd minute to win this one.

After the game van Gaal made no friends by coming up with excuses about the opposition defending with ten men behind the ball, etc., etc. Guess what Louis, better teams than Sheffield United have employed those tactics in the past and Mancheater United have still been able to record some comfortable wins against them! Read the rest of this entry »

Pep Guardiola Will Be At Manchester United Or Manchester City NEXT Season

Posted: January 22, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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Reportedly the most coveted coach in the world, Pep Guardiola enjoyed a successful career as a player at Barcelona and then went on to have a very successful career as their manager.

He surprised a lot of people by choosing to leave the club at the height of their success, citing the need to prove to himself that he could achieve the same levels elsewhere.

He then surprised even more people by opting to go to Germany to become the new manager of Bayern Munich. What was particularly surprising about this move was that he was following a manager who had just won the treble of Bundesliga title, German Cup and Champion’s League. Jupp Heynckes was going to be almost impossible to follow and so it turned out. Pep was successful but, at the time of writing, hadn’t been able to win the Champion’s League and neither, therefore, the treble.

It was no great surprise when he announced that he would be leaving Bayern Munich as he wanted to manage in the English Premier League. I think he found managing Bayern relatively easy and it appeared that they had even less competition in the Bundesliga than Barcelona had in La Liga during his time there. It did not turn out to be the challenge he expected and must have been quite boring, even for him, to know that, barring miracles being bestowed upon other clubs, Bayern Munich would have the league wrapped up by around Christmas. Read the rest of this entry »

Chelsea’s Credibility Battle

Posted: January 21, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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Guus Hiddink will not be staying at Chelsea after this season. That is not good news for Chelsea fans.

Has he been brought in to save the club from relegation? Has he been brought in to try and win a trophy? What about sorting out the players who brought about the downfall of Jose Mourinho? He must know that there is more than one bad apple in this particular barrel.

The point now is, does he really care about that side of things? Providing he keeps Chelsea in the Premier League, maybe gets into the top six, has a decent run in the Champion’s League, (even he must know they are not good enough to win it, although, they weren’t good enough to win it the year that they won it, so you never know!), and also has a good shot at the FA Cup then Guus will probably feel as though he has earned his money.

Is it really his problem that the football club contains some players, certainly led by a Fletcher Christian-type character, who wanted Mourinho out of the way and are trying to become the tail that wags the dog? No, it isn’t. It would be much easier for Hiddink to serve his time, pick up his money and disappear into the Dutch reservoirs armed only with a fishing rod and some worms. Read the rest of this entry »

Jose Mourinho In Limbo After Chelsea Exit

Posted: January 21, 2016 in Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Jose sits with his medical team and ponders the future!)

Jose Mourinho is in limbo. If we believe all the reports then he wants the Manchester United job. If we believe further reports then the reason he isn’t the current manager is because of Sir Bobby Charlton. He is old school and doesn’t like the idea of the club’s manager being headline news most of the season.

If it was only for all the good things, he would probably be fine with it but Jose, as is his wont, tends to make the news for virtually everything he does and, let’s be honest, it isn’t always the stuff used to set as examples for schoolboys to follow.

From arguments with his medical team to arguments with his players, Jose isn’t too fussy and even manages to include other managers in his occasional outbursts.

Arsene Wenger, Sam Allardyce and Manuel Pellegrini to name but three, have all crept into Mourinho’s radar of people he loves to hate.

The problem for United is actually quite simple. They have tried David Moyes. A likeable, non-confrontational Scot who, some people thought, would be ideal for United. He wasn’t because the job was too big for him.

So they are now trying van Gaal. After all, he is a winner, more like the “United type” than Moyes. He knows what it is like to win Championships and Champions Leagues titles.

Having spent ÂŁ258 million on new recruits you could be forgiven for thinking that van Gaal would be doing somewhat better than his predecessor. He isn’t! His record is almost identical to that of Moyes except he didn’t last as long in the Champion’s League, with Moyes having taken United to the quarter final stage. Read the rest of this entry »

Manchester United Need To Win The FA Cup But Does Van Gaal?

Posted: January 19, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester United need to win the FA Cup. Not to keep Louis van Gaal in a job because, if United finish outside of the top four, he will leave as a failure. The reason they need to win it is for their own confidence and self-belief.

If they finish the season empty handed and, as is expected, van Gaal leaves, there will be more doubts than definites and more pessimism than optimism. No Champion’s League football next season, as with last, would not be a total disaster. It would, however, demonstrate how far United have fallen since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

United have a chance of picking up two trophies this season, (three if you count the Premier League, which they are not good enough to win). They could win the Europa League and maybe should take it seriously as it is another route into the Champion’s League. As already mentioned they should be trying all-out to win the FA Cup. The fans will forgive boring, inept performances if trophies are won, (for a short while anyway). If nothing is won and the performances are not good then expect the fans to get on the player’s backs, after the manager of course.

The problem facing United at present is that they don’t appear to have improved. They scraped into fourth position last season, meaning they had to qualify for the Champion’s League. They were then eliminated very tamely and softly from a relatively easy group, AFTER having spent ÂŁ258 million on new players! Read the rest of this entry »

Is Wayne Rooney Back?

Posted: January 17, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(and, if so, where has he been?)

Is Wayne Rooney back to what passes as his best nowadays? Having scored a couple against Newcastle and now the winner against Liverpool, United fans could be forgiven for thinking that he is on the way back.

The truth is probably that he isn’t! At 30 years of age he has certainly lost some of the pace he never really had and watching him push the ball past players then resort to shoving them when he can’t outrun them is, frankly, quite embarrassing.

He has been tried in a deeper position at United at the expense of players who are better in the role and, with the exception of a decent range of passes, he brings little to the table in this position. The other problem with this is the fact that United already have more than enough midfielders.

He kept his place in the team for many weeks due to van Gaal’s illogical reasoning that “the captain doesn’t get dropped”. So, for quite a large part of the season, United effectively played with ten men. Yes, he was THAT bad!

Now he has found his shooting boots again he can, deservedly, be picked to play upfront, either alongside Martial in a 4-4-2 or on his own in a 4-2-3-1. Read the rest of this entry »

Louis Van Gaal & Manchester United Just Don’t Fit Together

Posted: January 17, 2016 in Football, Liverpool, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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A win is a win, but don’t be fooled into thinking that this was a good performance from United. They were second best for 75% of this match and only Liverpool’s inability to finish kept the scoreline at 0-0 for so long.

Yet again van Gaal infuriated with his selection. Ashley Young, a winger, playing at wing back. Matteo Darmian, a right back, playing at left back and Daley Blind , a defensive midfielder, playing at centre back. Marouane Fellaini was selected, inexplicably , ahead of Juan Mata and he actually managed to last the ninety minutes.

If anybody wonders why this type of selection always annoys me then imagine Manchester City doing it. Jesus Navas playing at wing back, Fernandinho at centre back and Pablo Zabaleta as left back. Pellegrini would never play these players out of their natural positions which goes a long way to explaining why City are challenging for the title and United aren’t even in the top four!

United were totally disjointed and looked completely out of sorts for the vast majority of the game.

Daley Blind seemed to have his own game plan whereby he kept firing long high balls towards Wayne Rooney. As was to be expected every single one of these was easily won by either Sakho or Toure. Read the rest of this entry »

Louis Van Gaal & Arsene Wenger Need A Win

Posted: January 16, 2016 in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Louis van Gaal and Arsene Wenger need Sunday to be a good day. They need it for different reasons, but need it they do.

With Manchester City and Tottenham winning on Saturday and Leicester drawing, Arsenal will need at least a point from Stoke City at The Britannia Stadium to return to the summit.

They currently sit third, one point behind the leaders Leicester and level on points with City. Although their goal difference is inferior to City’s it is superior to Leicester’s so they would go top with a draw. Obviously it would be better from an Arsenal point of view if they could get all three points, that way they could at least put a little daylight between themselves and the pursuers.

A loss to Stoke would not be disastrous, however it would encourage Tottenham Hotspur who are currently only four points behind them in fourth place.

For Manchester United only a win will lift them above West Ham into fifth place. More importantly it would keep them within two points of Tottenham. What they certainly don’t need to be doing is allowing a gap to develop between fourth place and the rest. Read the rest of this entry »

Liverpool & Manchester United Rivalry

Posted: January 16, 2016 in Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Liverpool and Manchester United have, quite surprisingly, not contested many top of the table battles. It has nearly always been a case of Liverpool challenging for the title with United in mid-table, or vice versa. This time they are both out of the top four!

They have always had the local rivalry because of the history and proximity of the two cities. Certainly, in this respect, there is more at stake between Manchester United and Liverpool than between the two Manchester teams.

The Manchester derby is definitely the biggest game from a financial viewpoint when you consider the two clubs’ relative wealth but, much as some of the fans would disagree, it still isn’t regarded as the game between the two biggest rivals.

After all, what is at stake in the derby? Local pride, bragging rights down the pub for a few days? Not much else unless it is a title decider when it gains slightly more importance, but also loses a little of it’s identity as it becomes just a game between two top teams.

I have explained in earlier chronicles that I am quite unusual in my football support. I support Manchester in general. I don’t apologise for it and I don’t see anything wrong with it. What can be wrong in wanting your home city to do well? Read the rest of this entry »

Manchester United, David De Gea, Real Madrid & Barcelona

Posted: January 15, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Thanks to the recent transfer embargo handed out to the two Madrid teams, it seems that David De Gea may be staying at Manchester United for a while longer.

It may be that, having signed a new deal at Old Trafford, he decided that he didn’t want to leave anyway. At the time there was no encouragement from the Real Madrid fans, (mainly because he used to play for Atletico), nor was there much forthcoming from the management. It appeared that the chief procrastinator in all this drama was, as usual, Florentino Perez. It was he who wanted De Gea.

The story goes that when he realised how against the move the fans were and how much they liked Keylor Navas, he conveniently messed up the paperwork which saved him from an embarrassing u-turn on the matter. Whatever the truth is, De Gea remains in Manchester with two of his three amigos.

Given Florentino Perez’ penchant for wanting everything HIS WAY because, as far as he is concerned, HIS WAY is what is best for Real Madrid irrespective of what anybody else may think, it is no surprise that they have fallen foul of some rule about wresting kids from the arms of their parents at a very young age. Read the rest of this entry »

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