Not only do Manchester United have the already big disadvantage of having to play an FA Cup semi-final in London, against a team from London, they also have 48 hours less recovery time from their previous game.
Chelsea played, at home, against an already relegated Norwich side, (and actually struggled to beat them 1-0), on Tuesday, whilst United had to wait until Thursday to travel to London and play Crystal Palace. (more…)
Europe’s “top” coaches who, apparently, don’t include Pep Guardiola who is probably the toppest, but do include Arséne Wenger who is neither a coach nor was he, latterly anyway, one of the top ones, have requested that UEFA take another look at the away goals rule. You know the one, it’s when a cup tie finishes level and the win is awarded to the team who scored the most goals in the away leg.
We were always under the misapprehension that the rule was introduced to stop teams boring supporters to death by defending for ninety minutes in the away leg of a tie, usually having won the home leg 1-0. It was to replace the coin toss and encourage the away side to play attacking football, or so we thought. (more…)
Following on from our article of yesterday in which we suggested that a draw between Manchester United and Liverpool would be the favoured result for Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur Hotspur, as they would all be able to gain two points on both teams, providing they win, of course.
There is another train of thought which suggests that the actual result of 2-1 to United gives the three a better chance of fighting for the top four as they can now gain THREE points on Liverpool. Providing they win, of course.
After a tactical battle at Old Trafford in which Liverpool had, by far, the majority of possession it was, as we mentioned, Manchester United who came out on top. (more…)
London looms large in this weekends big Premier League games. The top three non-London teams are all playing teams from the capital in a set of fixtures which may give us some clearer indication as to where the title is headed.
Only one of the six played on Saturday so this article serves as a review of one game and a preview of three. (more…)
In an eagerly anticipated game at Anfield the early Saturday kick-off saw Liverpool face Manchester United. Quite why these games are so eagerly anticipated is beyond the ken of simple folk such as ourselves.
They are often dour affairs with both teams more scared of losing than they are motivated by winning.
At least Liverpool did try to win the game but Manchester United, who had ONE shot on target throughout the ninety minutes, should be kicking themselves for not taking a more attacking approach. (more…)
Well, avid readers, so far it has been a very mixed weekend in prediction land, which is where WSA has been living for the last 24 hours.
The first prediction we made was that Manchester United may play in grey and would win 3-1.
Wrong! On both counts. They played in black and white which was almost as dull and boring as their performance. (more…)
(“They’re behind you!” Antonio Valencia tries in vain to find his team mates, who have become invisible thanks to that magical grey kit)
Manchester United will have an opportunity to wear their new grey third kit when they play Southampton at St.Mary’s on Saturday. If they do, then it will be the first time they have worn it in the top flight since they wore it in a 3-1 defeat at yes, you guessed it, Southampton.
On that day, back in 1996, Ferguson ordered the team to change their kit at half-time, blaming it for the players having become invisible whilst wearing it and being unable to see each other on the pitch. (more…)
Following on from our article yesterday in which we implied that Manchester United and Manchester City were waiting for London to catch up as usual. Well, with the exception of Chelsea, they are still waiting.
Chelsea beat a lacklustre Everton who, having played away at Manchester City last Monday then away in Croatia on Thursday looked as though they were feeling the effects of a tiring week.
This would be no consolation to Manchester City fans who will bemoan the fact that they got them at the beginning of the week when they were fresh and motivated. So, a bit of luck there for Chelsea. (more…)
Swansea City v Manchester United
So another half of a weekend rides off into the distance and, for the second week running, the football gods have been kind to Manchester United by allowing them to score four goals again.
This one could have proven to be slightly more difficult as it was away from home at the club who should be playing in the Welsh league, also known as Swansea City.
The home side did manage to resist for a while and it was only in stoppage time just before half time that United scored their first when Eric Bailly bundled the ball in after Pogba had seen his header pushed onto the bar by the keeper. (more…)
So it is nearly time for the two new BFFs to face off against each other in a Manchester derby unlike any other.
This is the first time the game will be played, not only outside of Manchester, but also, outside of the UK.
A Portuguese coach will square up his team of Spanish, Armenian, French, Italian, Belgian, Argentinian, Swedish, Portuguese, Dutch, Ivory Coast and English players against a Spanish coach and his team of Brazilian, Argentinian, Spanish, Belgian, Ivory Coast, Ukrainian, Turkish, German, French and English players, in the USA! USA! USA! That, folks, is the Manchester derby nowadays. (more…)
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