As usual there has been a knee-jerk reaction by the FA. This time it is to complaints from some Premier League clubs that the transfer window stayed open for too long.
The fact that the window was still open after the season started meant that squads couldn’t be finalised and players were still on the move, sometimes after having played a game for their previous club as in the case of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who played against Liverpool in one game and then for them in the next. (more…)
Manchester City and Manchester United are probably the two richest clubs in the Premier League. They have the two most successful and, arguably, best managers. They have the best squads and some of the world’s most expensive players.
The only club which comes anywhere near them in these respects is Chelsea, also with great wealth, a big squad and expensive players. Their manager, however, is an unknown quantity at this level. I suppose it could be argued that Pep Guardiola is in the same situation, but he has won far more domestic honours than Antonio Conte. (more…)
That doesn’t mean to say that he doesn’t intend to be there for a while, just that it doesn’t appear that way at present.
The signing of Ibrahimovic seems to be a very short term engagement and one which is more likely to gain United nothing more than extra shirt sales.
Ibrahimovic played for a poor Sweden side during the Euros and, although they exited at the end of the group stage, he didn’t manage to score one goal. He had a decent time at PSG where he came across second rate defenders for most of his stay thus enabling him to score quite a few goals. It very much remains to be seen whether or not he can achieve the same in the English Premier league. (more…)
Reportedly the most coveted coach in the world, Pep Guardiola enjoyed a successful career as a player at Barcelona and then went on to have a very successful career as their manager.
He surprised a lot of people by choosing to leave the club at the height of their success, citing the need to prove to himself that he could achieve the same levels elsewhere.
He then surprised even more people by opting to go to Germany to become the new manager of Bayern Munich. What was particularly surprising about this move was that he was following a manager who had just won the treble of Bundesliga title, German Cup and Champion’s League. Jupp Heynckes was going to be almost impossible to follow and so it turned out. Pep was successful but, at the time of writing, hadn’t been able to win the Champion’s League and neither, therefore, the treble.
It was no great surprise when he announced that he would be leaving Bayern Munich as he wanted to manage in the English Premier League. I think he found managing Bayern relatively easy and it appeared that they had even less competition in the Bundesliga than Barcelona had in La Liga during his time there. It did not turn out to be the challenge he expected and must have been quite boring, even for him, to know that, barring miracles being bestowed upon other clubs, Bayern Munich would have the league wrapped up by around Christmas. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 