Posts Tagged ‘Atletico Madrid’

No Game For Old Men?

Posted: January 11, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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It is certainly looking that way.

Look at the top teams in Europe outside of the Premier League. Real Madrid now have Zinedine Zidane who, at 43, has just taken over the managerial role. They are, arguably, the biggest team in the world. Whether or not he is successful remains to be seen but it appears that Madrid have taken a leaf from Barcelona’s book by promoting from within.

Luis Enrique is the man in charge of Barcelona. At 45, he is already very successful and, with the team he currently manages, there is no reason to think that the success will dry up anytime soon.

There are now three teams in Spain of course, the third being Atletico Madrid, managed by 45 year-old Diego Simeone. Since his appointment Atletico have seriously challenged the dominance of the big two in a similar way to when a young Alex Ferguson was given the job of breaking the Celtic/Rangers monopoly when he was appointed as manager of Aberdeen. He also got the United job at 45 and the rest is history. (more…)

Van Gaal’s United Team Is Depressing

Posted: January 9, 2016 in Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Having just watched Manchester United beat a league one team by 1-0, at Old Trafford, thanks to a penalty in the 93rd minute scored by their third choice penalty taker I was not really interested in what van Gaal had to say, but I listened anyway.

As expected he said that the important thing was to win the game, which they did. He did say that United were poor in the first half but were slightly better in the second, which I just about noticed. Saying that they were slightly better should in no way imply that they were actually good.

Certainly they looked better when Memphis Depay came on and he did show a little urgency when he was on the ball, winning the penalty for Rooney to score right at the end.

The problem is that, after reasonable displays against Swansea and Chelsea, United seem to have gone backwards again.

Van Gaal pointed to the fact that Sheffield United defended with ten men behind the ball but what did he expect? They would have been very happy with a replay at Bramhall Lane and the income generated by it so, to play on the break, as they did meant that there were two possible results they would have been happy with. Unfortunately for Nigel Adkins they got the one result that they wouldn’t be happy with. (more…)

Manchester City Rely On Sevilla

Posted: December 7, 2015 in Champions League, Football, Manchester City, Opinion
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Manchester City have a European tie on Tuesday night that may allow them to achieve what would be a “first” for them.

If they beat Borussia Moenchengladbach and Juventus fail to beat Sevilla, then City will qualify for the next round as group winners. This will be the first time they have achieved that in their Champions League history, following a failure to qualify and two second placed qualifications.

The more likely scenario is that Juventus will beat Sevilla, THEY will qualify as group winners and City will finish second again. All of which means that, in the first knockout round, City could face Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. They could be lucky and get a team which won one of the lesser groups but that would still potentially put them up against the likes of Zenit St. Petersburg, Porto or Atletico Madrid.

At the moment it is all rather immaterial as City can’t even take a point from a team like Stoke City so, even if they were to qualify as group winners, it is unlikely that they would then progress. (more…)

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