The Champions League Headaches Continue

Posted: September 16, 2015 in Champions League, European Football, Football, Opinion
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So Chelsea were the only English team to manage a win in the Champions League.

They currently sit 17th in the Premier League. Three of the teams above them, namely Manchester City, (1st), Manchester United, (3rd) and Arsenal, (4th) contrived to lose their opening games.

In fairness Chelsea, on paper anyway, had the easiest task. Even with their dodgy form of late it would still have been a major surprise had they not overcome Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Manchester City are always an unknown quantity in this competition. Regular losers at home, they have beaten teams like Roma away to progress in the past. Their game against Juventus, last year’s beaten finalists, was never going to be easy, but a defeat was still a disappointment even if not greatly surprising. Read the rest of this entry »

Average + Rooney = Record

Posted: September 6, 2015 in England, Football, International Football, Manchester United
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So Wayne Rooney has equalled Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record for England in, coincidentally, the same amount of games. If only he was half as good a player as Sir Bobby was.

It’s a pity that the record equalling goal was scored from the penalty spot against lowly San Marino, in a game where England’s main striker managed ONE goal in a 6-0 win.

People say that Rooney would have scored more goals for Manchester United had he not been played in midfield for a short while, firstly by Sir Alex Ferguson and then by Louis van Gaal. What they forget is that Bobby Charlton was never a striker and played all his games in midfield, for England and United. Charlton was not the main penalty taker for either Manchester United or England, so only 3 of his England goals were from penalties. Rooney has scored 18 goals for United and 5 for England from the penalty spot, although he also hasn’t always been the first choice taker. Read the rest of this entry »

Splitting Hairs

Posted: September 4, 2015 in Misuse of Words, Opinion
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Is wanting The English language to be spoken and written correctly being pedantic? Am I being over fussy by wanting to hear children pronouncing their “h’s” at the beginning of words, their “g’s” at the end of words and “th” as it is meant to be not as “ff”?

Please feel free to comment if you think I am wrong because I sometimes have my doubts. I occasionally think I take the whole thing a little too seriously and, as the majority of people don’t seem to care, I wonder whether I should or not.

I was brought up to speak correctly. Not the Queen’s English with the plum in the mouth, just to pronounce words as they were intended to be pronounced. My mother would immediately pounce if she heard any dropped “h’s” or missed “g’s”, it wasn’t right in her eyes. Read the rest of this entry »

Tottenham’s Very Own Shakespeare Character (Not Harry Hotspur)

Posted: September 3, 2015 in Football, Opinion, Tottenham Hotspur
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image(James Bond villain and part time undertaker Dastardly Daniel Levy trains his super high powered binoculars-designed-to-look-like-any-old-reading-glasses on Saido Berahino to see if that really is him playing for Jeremy Peace again.)

I like Tottenham. I like them in a way that only someone who isn’t a supporter can like them. I laugh at their little jokes, cry with them in times of sadness and am constantly amazed at how much they think they can achieve, without ever achieving any of it.

Take Emmanuel Adebayor, as I am sure Spurs wish somebody would. He left Arsenal and went to Manchester City, shortly after which he was sent on loan to Real Madrid who, obviously unimpressed, sent him back fairly pronto. City then sent him on loan again, this time to Spurs, who were so impressed that they bought him. Now they don’t want him and he won’t leave. Well, not until he gets a sign from God that it is the right thing to do. Five million pound signs ought to do it.

How about Tactics Tim? He was doing fine at Tottenham and actually seemed to get the best out of Adebayor. He gave Harry Kane his debut, along with other youngsters. Unfortunately, his profile didn’t fit with Dastardly Dan, who wanted immediate success with a bigger name than Sherwood. So goodbye Tim! Aston Villa’s youngsters are now benefitting from Tim’s babysitting skills. Read the rest of this entry »

Would Fergie Have Gambled On This Boy?

Posted: September 2, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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When Sir Alex Ferguson was beaten to the signing of Brazilian wonder kid Lucas Moura he decided the football world had gone mad.

At the time Moura was 19 years old and eventually went to Paris Saint-Germain for a fee of €45 million, which was about £35 million back then. He hasn’t done much since but then he has been injured and he does have time on his side.

This is what Ferguson said: “I find it quite amazing that a club can pay €45m for a 19-year-old boy. When somebody’s paying €45m for a 19-year-old boy you have to say the game’s gone mad.”

Now, unless you have been visiting Mars for the past few days, it won’t have escaped your attention that Manchester United have just paid £36 million for…….wait for it…….a 19 year old boy! Read the rest of this entry »

Director Of Football Required – Apply To Manchester United

Posted: August 30, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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Is this a falsely manufactured position with a fancy title or a required one? At the moment Manchester United should be including Pedro and Otamendi in their matchday line-up. The fact that they are not speaks volumes about one of two things, or possibly both.

The problem could be their transfer policy. They seem to be identifying players and, providing there is little or no competition, they are signing them. Hence the squad now includes Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Romero, Darmian and Depay. The latter actually being there due more to his relationship with van Gaal than anything else. They also got these signings over the line very quickly, consequently leaving very little time for other clubs to react.

It was about this time when United fans thought that Ed Woodward had redeemed himself for the calamitous previous transfer windows. The problems, however were only just beginning. Read the rest of this entry »

City Looking Good!

Posted: August 28, 2015 in Football, Manchester City
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Even at this early stage, it looks as though Manchester City are the best bet for the Premier League title.

Having bought Kevin De Bruyne, an excellent player they don’t really need, along with Sterling and Otamendi, they will have, in my opinion, the best team and squad in the top division.

Who will be the fall guy for De Bruyne? Well, they won’t drop Silva or Toure and, at present, Sterling is their record signing, so he looks safe. It looks like it’s going to be bench warming time for Jesus Navas.

In fairness I haven’t seen Navas contributing a lot up to now. In fact, when he has come on, Samir Nasri has looked a lot better than Navas. Navas also seems to unbalance the team slightly because he only wants to play on the right wing and rarely strays from that position, whereas Sterling, Silva, Nasri and De Bruyne can all interchange and play anywhere across the three. Read the rest of this entry »

The Law Is A Wildebeest

Posted: August 25, 2015 in Opinion, The Law
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When Oscar Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide rather than murder, it was thought he would get fifteen years in prison. This is the usual sentence for the offence. When he only got five years there was public outcry. Not only for the sentence, but also for the culpable homicide verdict. The majority watching the trial had already convicted him of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

To add insult to injury, in South Africa, once you have served a sixth of your sentence, providing that sentence is five years or less, you are eligible to be considered for house arrest, meaning that you leave prison for home, with a few rules. In Pistorius’ case, the parole board had made their decision in June, three months before they were required to, an as yet unexplained anomaly. Oscar Pistorius, no doubt, was looking forward to being reunited with his family in more familiar surroundings. Read the rest of this entry »

Manchester United Provides Britain’s Funniest Double Act

Posted: August 24, 2015 in Football, Manchester United
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Has Manchester United actually conducted some good business during this transfer window? I suppose that the answer to this question has to be, “yes”.

They have brought in Matteo Darmian, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay and Sergio Romero. With the exception of Romero any one of the other four would improve the squad.

So, they have covered a full back position, which was needed as Rafael couldn’t be trusted. They have more than covered midfield as Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin will add competition for Carrick, Fellaini, Mata, Herrera and even, to an extent, Januzaj, Young and Valencia with Depay added to the mix.

Where they haven’t added sufficient cover is where they have needed to since long before the transfer window’s curtains were even drawn back. Read the rest of this entry »

Morgan, Camille And Adidas

Posted: August 21, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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I recently commented on an article in the Daily Mirror about Camille Sold, the partner of Morgan Schneiderlin, actually going out to work for a living when her other half trousers the best part of £100,000 per week.

I stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest by suggesting that the Adidas store, where she is employed, would themselves have been better employed had they given the job to somebody who actually needed the money.

Back in March 2015, I pointed out, the Northwest’s unemployed numbered 219,000. When quoting figures such as this, I am aware that there are a great number of people included who don’t want to work, but surely ONE of them would have appreciated the money a lot more. Read the rest of this entry »

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