Posts Tagged ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’

Wayne Rooney Has EVERYTHING To Prove To Manchester United Supporters, EVERY Game

Posted: September 23, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Wayne Rooney looks over his shoulder only to find that the manager insists on him playing!)

Recently, one or two football players have remarked that they have “nothing to prove”. They say this as though they have reached a pinnacle and will never drop their standards below this optimum level.

Marouane Fellaini was one of the ones to speak out and that, frankly, was laughable. Now it’s the turn of Wayne Rooney again. Yes, again! It seems that Wayne likes to tell everybody how good he really is on a fairly regular basis. (more…)

Is Paul Pogba Really THAT Expensive Nowadays, Especially For Manchester United?

Posted: August 3, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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The straightforward, down-to-earth answer to the above question is: Yes, he is ridiculously expensive and nobody should be spending that amount of money on one player. As JĂĽrgen Klopp mentioned, at least three top class players could be brought in to strengthen a team for that sort of money. Also, the knock-on effect for other clubs is frightening, particularly the smaller clubs.

The true answer is: No, United will recover the money in a relatively short space of time, effectively meaning that he will have cost nothing. In fact, I read a short while ago that advance orders for Pogba shirts totalled somewhere in the region of ÂŁ72 million, so not much more is required to achieve a complete refund! (more…)

Manchester United And Chelsea Prove That Not All Players Crave The Champion’s League, (Not Immediately Anyway)

Posted: July 30, 2016 in Arsenal, Champions League, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Tottenham Hotspur
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So, failing to qualify for the Champion’s League is not the disaster that all the “experts” predicted it would be. In fact it appears to have had little or no impact on the two main “failures” in England. These are the two teams who contested the final only eight years ago in Moscow! The ability of Manchester United and Chelsea to sign top players and managers does not appear to have been diminished at all.

It is probably true to say that a prolonged absence from the competition would begin to have a negative effect at some stage as a considerable amount of money can be made by appearing in Europe’s top competition. The loss of this money over a sustained period would prove harmful to the clubs trying to attract the best players and, by doing so, make qualifying again the following year a more difficult proposition. In this respect it is a vicious circle. (more…)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic May Not Have Anything To Prove To Jose Mourinho, But He Has Plenty To Prove To Manchester United And The Fans

Posted: July 18, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Eric Cantona recently stated that Zlatan Ibrahimovic could become the “Prince of Manchester”. This title was the highest earthly one available according to Eric as HE was the “King of Manchester”.

The first task here is to correct Eric’s misunderstanding that he is the “King”. This title has always belonged, and will always belong, to Denis Law, regardless of whoever follows him.

Proof, if any were needed, can not only be found in the number of goals Law scored for United, but also in the lyrics of a famous old song which rang round Old Trafford for many years. Sang to the tune of “Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner”, the title was changed to “Maybe it’s because I’m from Manchester” and the final line was “and the King is Denis Law”. Older followers of these chronicles will remember it well. (more…)

Eden Hazard Will Probably Leave Chelsea For More Money & An Easier Life

Posted: February 23, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Opinion, Premier League
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Recently the press appear to have decided that Eden Hazard would rather go to Real Madrid than to PSG. This pre-supposes that he actually wants to leave Chelsea and go to a weaker league. Strangely, though, most of the best players do!

Luis Suarez chose Barcelona over staying at Liverpool or moving to Arsenal. Cristiano Ronaldo favoured Real Madrid above Manchester United. Zlatan Ibrahimovic who, rather amazingly is considered world class by some people, has managed to avoid being roughed up in England his entire career, as has Lionel Messi. Neymar is also staying in Spain for the time being although the appointment of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City may change one or two minds.

Hats off then to Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil who have both made the reverse trip to the Premier League from Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

Sanchez, in particular, hit the ground running upon his arrival and looks made for the Premier League. (more…)

Will Eden Hazard Still Be At Chelsea Next Season?

Posted: January 8, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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The answer to the above question is looking more and more likely to be “no”.

Having, apparently, fallen out with Jose Mourinho, this feeling now appears to have spread to the rest of the club. What has happened to a player who, only last season, was being placed behind only Messi and Ronlado in the world’s best players list?

We know that under Mourinho he was sometimes played out of his favourite position. We also know that he was expected to carry out defensive duties by tracking back and not letting the opposition wing backs have a free run. What we also know is that he didn’t like that side of the game.

Ideally, Hazard would play for a team whereby he was told to stick himself around the halfway line and wait until the hard working defenders managed to get the ball to him. Then he would be able to do what he does best, whether that be run at the defence through the middle, or on either wing.

It is unlikely that he will get his wish under Hiddink, who is also a bit of a taskmaster and expects his players to work hard for the ball. Whether or not Hazard sticks around to see if there will be a change of manager in the Summer is anybody’s guess but, at the moment, he is not of that mind. (more…)

Manchester United, Gary Neville, Cristiano Ronaldo & Gareth Bale

Posted: November 30, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Good old Gary. You have to admire his optimism, don’t you? He was a dopey defender, as Rodney Marsh used to say, who has turned into football’s answer to ‘The Man Who Knew Everything.” Very likeable and speaking a lot of common sense he is a refreshing addition to the world of punditry which previously boasted Paul Merson and his twenty words vocabulary as one of the leading lights, (and still does, to be honest).

According to Neville the elder, Manchester United are just TWO, yes TWO players short of being like Barcelona, whatever that means.

I suppose if Messi and Neymar were to sign for United tomorrow they would then be more like Barcelona. Only they wouldn’t be, because Barca would no longer have Messi and Neymar. They would still have Luis Suarez, which would make them more like Manchester City who also have only one world class striker in Sir Joe Aguero.

Trying to be more logical than Neville isn’t particularly difficult. All we need to do is work out which two players he means then, obviously, whoever is left would get into the Barcelona team. So let’s start up top. (more…)

Cristiano Ronaldo To Manchester United?

Posted: November 22, 2015 in European Football, Football, Managers, Opinion
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Cristiano Ronaldo decided, at the age of 24, that he wanted to go to Real Madrid. The reasons for this decision are reasonably well documented. It wasn’t for the money. Even at 24 United would have matched anything Madrid offered if they had been given any encouragement that he would stay at Old Trafford.

Being Portuguese and having already played in Portugal, the biggest clubs for those players are usually Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is a return to Iberia, the culture they are used to, the weather, the food, everything that is, to them, home.

Luis Figo was another world famous Portuguese who actually had the distinction of playing for both Barcelona and Real Madrid. So it is certainly not an uncommon desire for these players to want to ply their trade in Spain at some stage. (more…)

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. (more…)

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