Manchester United Are Dismal Again

Posted: December 19, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester United proved yet again that they are absolutely toothless as an attacking force.

The return of Wayne Rooney only proved what everybody already knew, he is past his sell-by date. It was as though he had never been away. He got straight back into his stride by giving the ball away, shooting very wide and generally contributing nothing to the cause.

The scary sight for United fans was the sight of the three players furthest forward on occasions. For Messi, Neymar and Suarez read Fellaini, Smalling and Rooney. That may give you an idea of what at least one of the problems is at Old Trafford.

Of course the fact that Fellaini was playing meant that the ball was being sent wide to be crossed in. The problem was twofold. Firstly, the crosses were never of sufficient quality to cause any problems to the defence. Secondly, any headers Fellaini actually managed to connect with were never of sufficient quality to cause any problems to the defence. Read the rest of this entry »

Jose Mourinho & Chelsea: The Odd Couple

Posted: December 17, 2015 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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(Jose waves goodbye to Chelsea again, probably for the last time, but who really knows?)

For a while it was a match made in heaven. Jose and Chelsea had a passionate marriage which lasted three years and only ended in divorce when the bubble appeared to have burst and the passion went out of it.

After a short separation, Mourinho and Chelsea realised that they could no longer live without each other and decided to give it another go. The passion returned for a short while and everything was fine for a short while. The problem is that “short while” has come to define the marriages between Mourinho and Chelsea.

Now he has gone, probably for good, because of the vow “for better or worse” in the wedding ceremony. To Jose’s way of thinking this meant that the “better” bit was for him and the “worse” bit was for Chelsea and everybody else. In other words he was quite happy to take all the praise when winning, but turned into a spoiled brat when losing.

The final straw, in my humble opinion, was when he turned on his own players after the Leicester City game, which Chelsea lost 2-1. Read the rest of this entry »

Arsenal’s Waiting Game

Posted: December 16, 2015 in Arsenal, Football, Opinion, Premier League
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Arsenal sit near the top of the Premier League waiting. Waiting for other teams. Waiting and watching to see if the other teams will do something positive or negative, or will things stay as they are until the end of the season?

The first thing that they need to happen is for Leicester City to start flagging. To sell a player or two in January, and pick up an injury or two anytime. The fact that Leicester don’t have a big squad full of quality players could be their undoing. If it is, Arsenal are ready and waiting.

Another positive for Arsenal would be Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany remaining injured. That isn’t going to happen as they are both nearing fitness, but that is a state of affairs which is usually very temporary. It would also appear that City will have more Champions League games to manoeuvre as they should expect to beat Dynamo Kyiv. Arsenal will surely be free of any European hindrances after two games against Barcelona.

So, from these two clubs who would be seen as direct competitors, Arsenal are looking for some failings and, in the case of Leicester, a loss of form. City just need to carry on being inconsistent. If they do, Arsenal are waiting. Read the rest of this entry »

Jose Mourinho Through The Looking Glass

Posted: December 14, 2015 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion
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Having qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League as group winners and having lost their last Premier League game at home to Bournemouth, Jose Mourinho could be forgiven for wondering if he had passed through a looking glass into a strange new world where the unexpected is the norm.

On current form there is no way that Chelsea should have qualified as winners of the group in the Champions League. At one stage it seemed they would struggle to qualify at all! There is also, even on current form, no excuse for losing at home to Bournemouth, so the world of Chelsea appears to be a little upside down and inside out at present.

Tonight they had the chance to redeem themselves in the league against top four side Leicester City, managed by ex-Chelsea man Claudio Ranieri.

Jose has now decided that Claudio is actually a good egg and swears he didn’t mean all those nasty things he said about him when they were both in Italy. Claudio, as usual, has been the more gentlemanly of the two by not speaking at all, a tactic which would never occur to Mourinho. Read the rest of this entry »

United And Louis Draw Lilliput FC

Posted: December 14, 2015 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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(Louis is a little nervous about the welcome to Midgetland!)

Unless I have misread it, Manchester United have drawn Midgetland in the UEFA Cup, (or Europa League if you prefer the official title). This draw being a reward for their decidedly worse than average performances in the Champions League, where they were only able to take one point from the third best team in Holland, and three points from the fifth best team in Germany.

So, expect them to be knocked unconscious, have their extremities tied to the ground with ropes and stakes and then have the king come and see what all the fuss is about, while the players swarm all over them.

In all honesty, if United cannot beat a team whose average height will be in the region of six inches, over two legs then there is no hope for either them or the Iron Tulip who is currently showing signs of rusting and wilting at the same time.

The problem here is that van Gaal has got United into a no-win situation. If they go through to the next round then everyone will say, quite rightly, “Yes, but it was only Midgetland and, after all, they were never going to win.” Read the rest of this entry »

Everton, City, United, Arsenal & Liverpool Opinion

Posted: December 13, 2015 in Football, Opinion, Premier League
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Starting with the early kick-off on Saturday, Everton should have been out of site by half-time in their game against Norwich , but a combination of bad luck and bad finishing ended up costing them two points.

Everything looked rosy when Romelu Lukaku gave them the lead and Norwich, at this stage, hadn’t really turned up. But, as is often the case when chances are missed, Norwich equalised through Wes Hoolahan and the result was a stalemate leaving Roberto Martinez frustrated and Alex Neil feeling like James Coburn in “The Great Escape”.

Next up was Manchester City who kicked off at the regulation time of 3:00 pm which is unusual in itself. City took the lead in the first half through Wilfried Bony but never really threatened again until they scored their second goal after 91 minutes. Before that Swansea had equalised and had also had a couple of chances to take the lead. Read the rest of this entry »

Pellegrini Needs Luck, Van Gaal Needs To Go

Posted: December 12, 2015 in Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester City laboured to a first half lead courtesy of a goal by Wlifried Bony, whose marker Ashley Williams, obviously thought they still both played for the same team when he left him alone in the penalty area to head the opener.

City were missing Vincent Kompany, as usual, Sir Joe Aguero, as usual along with Nasri, Zabaleta and Fernando. Rather than play Kolarov, Pellegrini opted for Sagna on the right and my least favourite player, Gael Clichy, on the left. Clichy cemented his position in my mind as an average player by giving the ball away on at least two occasions and doing absolutely nothing else. Jesus Navas was picked so that Kevin De Bruyne could be reminded of his time at Chelsea. Navas, as is his wont at present, was also very ineffectual.

Swansea were restricted to a couple of first half chances, one of which they should certainly have scored from, but didn’t. So 1-0 to City at half-time.

The second half saw Fabian Delph enter the fray in place of Raheem Sterling. Clichy continued to give the ball away. City chased what appeared to be a much needed second goal as Swansea always looked like they might score. Read the rest of this entry »

Louis Van Gaal’s Excuses Wearing Thin

Posted: December 11, 2015 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(“I last saw it over there!” Louis ropes in Ryan Giggs to help him look for the plot he lost a while ago)

Louis van Gaal is looking a whole lot less calm as the weeks go by. He isn’t the type to be too bothered about losing a job and the salary that accompanies it. He is bothered, however, by not being able to finish one of his “projects” and by being deemed a failure. His pride does not allow for either of those scenarios.

If he is allowed to carry on in his job as manager of Manchester United he may face one or both in the relatively near future.

Depending upon your rag of choice, Pep Guardiola is either waiting in the wings for van Gaal to be given his marching orders or going to Manchester City. It would seem that one of Manchester’s equivalent to Waldorf and Statler will be being replaced by the bald, bearded Bayern boss.

In fairness to van Gaal he has had a lot of injuries to contend with. For the next game which, as I write, is against Bournemouth, he has nine first team players unavailable through injury. Manchester City have also suffered an injury crisis to their better players, and Arsenal most certainly have, so it is a situation which is not unique to United. Read the rest of this entry »

King Klopp Of The Kop

Posted: December 10, 2015 in Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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Since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the Premier League has been crying out for a larger than life person to replace him.

Not necessarily another dour Scot from Glasgow, after all, England’s top division has probably seen more than enough of them. The likes of Bill Shankly, Matt Busby, Billy McNeill, Tommy Docherty, Kenny Dalglish, Alex McLeish and now Alex Neil to name but a few of the more successful ones, have all managed clubs in the English league.

No, what was required was a character the stellar opposite. Somebody with loads of personality, lots of get-up-and-go, a witty riposte and a sharp tongue when required. Could these traits possibly be Germanic?

It’s very doubtful as we all know the Germans! Basically, they are Glaswegians with a strange accent, dour and uncompromising, get on with the job very successfully and with the minimum of fuss. But wait! There is one who fits the bill, one who has just taken over at Liverpool and is throwing his heart and soul into learning scouse. Jurgen Klopp is what everybody has been waiting for. Read the rest of this entry »

Arsenal & Chelsea Get The Job Done

Posted: December 9, 2015 in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion
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Jose Mourinho didn’t need to win this game. He didn’t even need to draw this game. He can be eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage, knocked out of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge by the Wheeltappers and Shunters social club second eleven, and be relegated to the Championship and it won’t bother him a jot. Why? Because he has what nobody else in Britain has had since Lord Ferg retired. He has job security!

He knows Roman Abramovich so well that he knows the innermost thoughts of the Chelsea owner without being told what they are.

Convinced as he is that he has a job for life that still didn’t stop him urging, cajoling and pushing his team hard for the victory which keeps him in the competition if not important in keeping him in a job.

Chelsea were not their last-season-excellent selves, they were just efficient and did a good job when that was what was required. A 2-0 win sees them stagger into the knockout stage where they will lose to either Benfica, PSG or Juventus. Read the rest of this entry »

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