Posts Tagged ‘Arsenal’

José Mourinho Is Not Obsessed With Chelsea For Any Reason Other Than Wanting To Topple The Champions

Posted: July 15, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , ,
1

IMG_1722

There has been a lot of rubbish written recently as to why José Mourinho bought Romelu Lukaku and why, supposedly, he wants to buy Timoue Bakayoko. Amongst the explanations given has been one which suggests that he wants to get one over his old club.

Why? What would that achieve? Personal satisfaction because they sacked him? We doubt that, particularly when all the evidence points to Mourinho having engineered his own exit so that he could take the United job. (Read here, if you haven’t already done so).

Apart from which, Mourinho may be a spiteful person at times, but he is much too professional to let that side of his personality affect his judgement when it concerns Manchester United. (more…)

Advertisement

Would It Be A Disaster If Manchester United Were To Sign No More Players This Summer?

Posted: July 3, 2017 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Transfers
Tags: , , , ,
1

IMG_1628

The short answer is yes, it would be and for the following long reasons.

Leaving aside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is now no longer an option, Manchester United had nobody reaching double figures in the goalscoring charts last season.

That was one of the reasons  United didn’t challenge for the title and, in the end, didn’t even really challenge for the top four. Too many games were drawn at home and the annoying aspect of those draws was that the majority of them were 1-1 results where United had led the games for lengthy periods, with the obvious exception being the Liverpool game where they actually managed to come back and draw in the last minute. (more…)

José Mourinho’s Plan B Is His New Plan A. His Original Plan A Is Now Consigned To The Trash And He Never Had A Plan C. That’s Manchester United At Present

Posted: May 17, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

IMG_1424

Counting chickens before they are hatched is easy when all of your eggs are in the same basket. José Mourinho has already counted the chickens and has decided that he will gamble on them all hatching.

Just to prove how confident he is in this he is also trying his hand at juggling with them! He doesn’t have another basket to hand, just in case a fox comes to steal the first one. He has decided that guarding the basket by concentrating all his efforts on it’s safety is the way forward. (more…)

Manchester United Managers Have Rarely, If Ever, Disrespected The “Smaller” Competitions

Posted: March 9, 2017 in Chelsea, Europa League, European Football, Manchester United, Opinion
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

IMG_1262

So Manchester United managed to overcome a terrible pitch and a good team and are now in very real danger of reaching the final of the Europa League.

The pitch, at the end of the day, was the same for both teams although Rostov are, obviously, more used to playing on it. It didn’t really make a difference. Providing United, who had the better players, played to their potential then they were always going to be in a position to win the tie over the two legs. (more…)

Who Is Winning The Battle Of Manchester? Guardiola’s City Or Mourinho’s United?

Posted: February 12, 2017 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Pep Guardiola, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

nintchdbpict000273884577

When these two managers were appointed by their current clubs it was widely expected, particularly in Manchester, that the top two positions in the Premier League would be contested between them.

Obviously, this view would not have been the case in parts of London or Liverpool but, generally, it was the concensus in the frozen, rainy wastelands of Manchester.

The facts have proven to be quite different. They have proven, for one thing, that even some of the best managers cannot just take over at a club and immediately turn them into champions. (more…)

Manchester United’s José Mourinho Experiences Déjà Vu, But On Behalf Of Claudio Ranieri!

Posted: February 6, 2017 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

img_1157

Rewind to a time not much more than twelve months ago. Stood on the touchline at the Kingpower Stadium was a manager whose team looked bereft of ideas, short of a leader and heading in one direction only, downwards.

José Mourinho, when interviewed after that 2-1 loss to Leicester City, unashamedly blamed his players for not following orders. This despite the fact that, as he well knows, the ultimate responsibility lies with the person who picks those players.

Roman Abramovich obviously concurred with the opinion that the manager was at fault and Mourinho was out of work. (more…)

Manchester City And Manchester United Both Lose Ground On The Top Four

Posted: January 15, 2017 in European Football, Everton, Football, Manchester City, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

img_1091

So that’s it. It’s all over until the next time. We did warn you that it was over-hyped. We did try to explain that it may not live up to the publicity. The day turned out to be very much like an advert for…..well…..anything, in that so much was promised and so little delivered.

As was also predicted the results have changed very little in the makeup of the Premier League table. Chelsea are still top. The wins by Arsenal and Spurs kept them where they were and a little soft shoe shuffling by the rest has made little or no difference as to how the final table of the season will look. The major event was Manchester City losing points as opposed to the three London clubs above them who all gained three. (more…)

Another Battle Of Manchester With Little At Stake For Either José Mourinho Or Pep Guardiola

Posted: October 26, 2016 in European Football, Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

img_1142

Well here we are, dear readers, preparing for the second Manchester derby of the season and we’re only in October!

Regular followers of this irregular missive will have noticed that I have, on occasion, seen fit to bemoan the way that cup draws seem to bring the Manchester clubs together, before the final, on a fairly consistent basis. They seem destined never to get to the altar, always having to have a sordid little affair long before the big day ever dawns which then, invariably, belongs to somebody else. (more…)

Who Is Zlatan Ibrahimović And Why Did Jose Mourinho Bring Him To Manchester United?

Posted: August 16, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

image

Despite his name Zlatan Ibrahimović is Swedish. His father was from Bijeljina in Bosnia and his mother from Prkos in Croatia. They met, however, in Sweden after both emigrating there a few years earlier.

When Zlatan was six they gave him a pair of football boots and, apart from a short time when he was fifteen, he has never looked back!

Fast forward to 1996 when he joined Malmo and stayed with them until 2001, experiencing relegation, promotion and little else, although it was during his time there that Arsene Wenger tried, unsuccessfully, to sign him for Arsenal. (more…)

Jose Mourinho Is Already A Changed Man Since Joining Manchester United

Posted: August 2, 2016 in European Football, Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

image

He has already said it. If we concentrate solely on each other in this league, then somebody else will win it. It was OK in Spain as there were only usually two clubs competing for the title, so it was good to have some mind games. These are the words, more or less, of Jose Mourinho shortly after taking over at Manchester United.

Who he is trying to convince is rather a mystery. Is it the fans? I doubt it. Most fans will tell you that they love a few mind games. United supporters were always in their element when Fergie was giving it large about some manager or another.

Also, in the not too distant past, Jose himself was known for having a slight dig at opposing managers. Spats with Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez readily come to mind. (more…)

Older Entries