What Has Happened To The Traditional Top Four?

Posted: January 3, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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To supporters of other clubs, what I mean by the “traditional top four” is the four clubs who have finished in those positions the most times in the recent past.

To try and appear unbiased I will take them in alphabetical order:

Arsenal

They have obviously decided that they need to reverse the usual pattern of their season. This was only evident when they lost their first home game. Arsene quickly realised that the season would be the same as any other if he didn’t do something.

So they started winning regularly, something the Gooners fans don’t normally experience until after the Christmas period. By this time, Arsenal have usually left it too late to win the title.

This has proven so successful that Arsenal currently sit top of the Premier League, two points ahead of Leicester City in second. They are still in the Champion’s League, just, thanks to an epic display against Olympiacos in the final group game. Read the rest of this entry »

Will Guus Hiddink Steady The Ship At Chelsea?

Posted: January 3, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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The first impression is that he will. Already Jon Obi Mikel has spoken of a more united dressing room since Mourinho went. There are rumours that Eden Hazard is also happier although he actually improved considerably when Jose first returned. Still, that relationship also seemed to have turned sour.

Michael Emenalo, Chelsea’s technical director cited “palpable discord” between the players and Mourinho as the main reason for his sacking but then rather contradicted this by saying that the players had followed instructions, given by Mourinho,to the letter.

This was clearly an attempt to absolve any of the players of any blame in the same way as a military officer will be blamed for the failings of his troops and morale will be increased, (hopefully).

The problem with this is that outside observers point out that the players followed his instructions to the letter last season and won the title. So, either Jose got it completely wrong by changing his instructions to the team this season, or it is a little more smoke blown over the situation. One has to assume that, had the players been following his instructions to the letter, then Chelsea would not be in the mess they are in at present. Read the rest of this entry »

Do Manchester City Need A New Left Back?

Posted: January 2, 2016 in Football, Manchester City, Opinion, Premier League
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Is Manuel Pellegrini ever going to realise what a liability Aleksandr Kolarov is to the team?

He is so lazy it is unbelievable. I don’t mean lazy in that he doesn’t run around or chase the ball, he does all that. The problem is when he has the ball or is attempting to win it.

He will invariably play a lazy pass straight at an opponent as though he expects the ball to magically pass through him. He does occasionally play decent passes in behind the defence or put in a decent cross or crack in a fierce free-kick but I am not sure that the positives outweigh the negatives with this guy.

Take the goal he scored for Watford today from a corner. Apart from being in danger of conceding a penalty by having both his arms around a Watford striker, he then deliberately flicked the ball with his head. He didn’t need to, Joe Hart had it covered and would either have caught it or punched it out. The flick from Kolarov took it past him and into the net.

Whilst I am sure that these mistakes affect him, he certainly does not give the appearance that they do. He appears not to care, but I am sure he does.

The main problem, for me, is that he never seems to learn and Pellegrini keeps picking him. Now, the argument may be that City don’t have a left back better than Kolarov, which is true if Clichy is the only back up. Read the rest of this entry »

Manchester United Flatter To Deceive

Posted: January 2, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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The transfer window has been open for two whole days and Manchester United still haven’t bought a striker! Is it not obvious to van Gaal that goals win games and decent strikers score goals?

So to the home game against Swansea where Laborious Louis had the chance to improve upon the Chelsea performance by winning.

Yet again United’s team selection was a sign of things to come.

Inexplicably, Wayne Rooney had been named as the man-of-the-match in the previous game against Chelsea. He hadn’t scored, as usual, so I guess he got it because he managed to raise his game from rubbish to average.

Van Gaal must have been sufficiently impressed because he decided his misfiring captain should remain at centre forward despite lacking the obvious requirement of goals.

As is the norm nowadays, van Gaal put his top scorer on the wing thereby limiting any chances he would have of increasing his tally. He played Ashley Young as a wing back, again. He played Daley Blind as a wing back, again. I get the impression that, if he got the chance to manage Barcelona again, he would play Messi, Neymar and Suarez as the back three. Read the rest of this entry »

What Next For Jose Mourinho?

Posted: January 1, 2016 in Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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(Jose tells the team how many players he wants on the bus!)

If it is true that Jose Mourinho wants to stay in England as a manager, he may have to set his sights a little lower than he is used to.

It would appear that his first choice of club would be Manchester United, but the noises coming from Old Trafford are not encouraging for him. If we are to believe the press then Louis van Gaal had to win one of his last two games to keep his job. He failed to do so but remains in situ at United. This says one of two things. Either the press were wrong, (perish the thought!), or United don’t have a successor lined up. If the latter is the case, then Mourinho is not in the running for the job.

Further, more recent rumblings, supposedly emanating from Old Trafford, suggest that the players would like Diego Simeone from Atletico Madrid. I am not aware that Simeone has been consulted on this matter but I suggest it may be a job he could summon up some interest in, despite his lack of English. In actual fact, having no command of English never appeared to be a problem for the likes of Mauricio Pochettino or Harry Redknapp. Read the rest of this entry »

What Do Arsenal, Leicester, City, United, Tottenham, Liverpool, Palace & Jose Mourinho Want For The New Year?

Posted: December 31, 2015 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Arsene Wenger

A new striker because, although Giroud is doing the business, Arsene never seems to be 100% convinced. So much so that there have been games when he has preferred Walcott in the striking role. So far this season both have done reasonably well in the position but Giroud is more consistent. It is reported that Edinson Cavani of PSG is on the radar.

Danny Welbeck to get fit so he can take his place on the bench. The same wish for Jack Wilshere, but he would get on the teamsheet rather than the bench.

Finally, an injury free second half of the season and the Premier League title.

Claudio Ranieri

Maybe a new signing or two depending on how many packets of crisps have been sold!

The success and money to be able to hold onto Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez and also an injury free second half of the season which would enable Leicester to maintain a top four challenge. Read the rest of this entry »

Is The Real Liverpool FC About To Re-appear?

Posted: December 30, 2015 in Football, Liverpool, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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When I think back to the great Liverpool teams of the past, I think of Ian St. John, Ian Callaghan, Emlyn Hughes, Tommy Smith, Ron Yeats, Roger Hunt, Kevin Keegan and John Toshack, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish, Ray Clemence, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen and even Bruce Grobbelaar. As you will notice I have recorded these as I remember them rather than in any chronological order.

When I think back to the recent Liverpool teams, the players that spring to mind are Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and maybe Robbie Fowler. Of all the ones mentioned, Suarez showed absolutely no loyalty to the cause whatsoever. It can be argued that, as a Uruguayan, he would always feel more at home in Spain and he already had connections with the city of Barcelona if not the club, so it was rather ordained that he would end up there.

The point being that over a thirty year period from the late sixties until the late nineties, all the memorable players were around in the sixties and seventies. What has happened since?

No other team in England was as successful as Liverpool. In Europe, Liverpool are still the most successful English team but have failed to qualify for the top European competition in eight of the last ten years since winning it in 2005. Read the rest of this entry »

Arsenal Implosion Still Pending!

Posted: December 30, 2015 in Arsenal, Football, Opinion, Premier League
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And what’s more folks, it may not happen at all!

Alright, one or two little sticks of dynamite have been set off lately, but they have barely caused a ripple on the perfect surface of The Emirates. A 4-0 defeat to a Southampton team, who can’t beat anybody else, can be laughed off particularly when it is followed by a 2-0 win in the very next game, over a Bournemouth team who aren’t losing at present. Wait a minute! Isn’t that the topsy-turvy Arsenal of old?

Usually, when Arsenal lost a game in the past, particularly by an embarrassing scoreline, it signalled the end of any title challenge. This season they seem to be getting it more right than wrong.

To begin with, they had a good start to the campaign, apart from losing their first home game, which is becoming an annual occurrence.

At one stage, Arsenal were saving their worst form for the cup competitions. Read the rest of this entry »

2015 in review

Posted: December 30, 2015 in Opinion
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WordPress.com prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog, which only started in July of this year.

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 67,000 times in the last six months of 2015. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

A Tale Of Two Cities, Leicester & Manchester

Posted: December 29, 2015 in Football, Manchester City, Opinion, Premier League
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(Now there’s a headline the press won’t think of using, much!)

PRE-MATCH

Time for Manchester City to step up to the plate and see if they can beat the best team in the Premier League thus far.

Whatever the result, there will be a handshake and a friendly word between two of the nicest managers in the Division.

Up to now City have remained fairly true to their standard description, inconsistent and poor, when missing some of the bigger players.

They certainly have to try and overcome this mental blockage they seem to have whenever Vincent Kompany is injured. With players such as Otamendi, Demichelis and Mangala to fill the two central defensive positions and Denayer, a full Belgian international, waiting in the wings, it is ridiculous that they struggle so much without their captain. Denayer, for example, can’t even get on the bench so goes out on loan, and he is a fully fledged member of the world’s best international team!

So, with Kompany missing again, it is up to the others to show how little his absence should affect the team.

Sergio Aguero returns again, probably to the annoyance of Wilfried Bony again, who will watch the game from the bench again, probably coming on around the hour mark so Aguero can put his feet up again. In fact the term “deja vu” could have been invented with Bony in mind! Read the rest of this entry »

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