Posts Tagged ‘David Moyes’

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(JosĂ© Mourinho has a few things to think about before Sunday’s game with Swansea)

Manchester United have gone from being challengers to strugglers in a few short weeks.

Whether it is more surprising that they actually played well at the start of the season, or that they returned to their abject selves after a very short while is debatable.

What seems to have been missed by Moyes, van Gaal and now Mourinho, is that the United players appear to find it virtually impossible to pass the ball to each other. The amount of times a pass goes straight to an opposition player is now too numerous to be put down to bad luck or just erratic passing. (more…)

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A quarter-ish way through the season and things are, unfortunately for some, beginning to take shape.

Draws at home did not help the cause of either Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur.

United should have beaten Burnley by three or four goals but their failure in front of goal may yet prove that Zlatan Ibrahimović was not the signing which should have been prioritised during the recent transfer window. (more…)

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In the 1960’s Chelsea, for some reason, were always better away from home than they were at home. Could it have had anything to do with the crowd being so far from the pitch, seemingly a current problem for West Ham United?

The days of Peter Osgood, Charlie Cooke, Peter Bonetti, Ron and Alan Harris et al produced far superior returns on the road than any other team. In fact, if Chelsea could have corrected their home form during this period they wouldn’t have had to wait quite as long as they did to win the title. (more…)

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In a normal job anybody, especially somebody in a senior position, who fell below the required standard would be sacked. Their contract would not necessarily be paid off, as it is with football managers, because falling below the required level would be seen as a breach of that contract and, therefore, a sackable offence. (more…)

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Manchester United fans do not have a lot of time for Wayne Rooney at present. When he originally signed for the club he was accepted quite quickly, helped, no doubt, by scoring a hat-trick in his first game, a Champion’s League match against FenerbahcĂ©.

He then went on to have a few relatively successful years even though he could only watch as better players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez moved on to more success. He never reached their level despite his early promise. It appeared that he reached his comfort zone and stayed there. (more…)

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In the last three transfer windows Manchester United have spent in the region of £410 million. Louis van Gaal was responsible for around £260 million whilst José Mourinho has spent about £150 million. This is not accounting for the paltry £65 million spent by David Moyes in being no worse than van Gaal although, admittedly, not winning anything.

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If you were this man,

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Would you be happy to see your goalscoring records taken from you by this man?

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No? I didn’t think so. There is an injustice about the whole thing which makes it seem so totally surreal.

One of the two is about to celebrate 60 years since making his Manchester United debut, the other one isn’t. One is universally liked and respected, the other one isn’t.

Sir Bobby, of course, was and will be the first to congratulate Rooney both for the England record he has already achieved and the Manchester United one which, if he continues to be as bad as he has been for the last few years, he may not achieve. We live in hope! Privately, I would be very surprised if Charlton is happy with this situation. (more…)

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Despite sitting at the top of the Premier League Table Manchester City, as Pep Giardiola has already intimated, can improve and, as their recent performance against Tottenham Hotspur suggests, they can improve quite a lot.

Kevin De Bruyne has, in a remarkably short space of time, become almost indispensable to the team. City win far more games when he is playing than when he isn’t meaning that, although they have a deep squad, the strength is not necessarily there yet and their dependence upon one player is worrying for the fans. (more…)

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He was blamed, initially, for the appointment of David Moyes.

The story put out by the press at the time was that Moyes was invited to the house of Alex Ferguson where, no doubt over a glass of something either red or whisky coloured, he was invited to take over as manager of Manchester United. (more…)

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How consistent is José Mourinho? More to the point, how consistent can he become?

The general impression is that manager of Manchester United is one of the jobs he has always wanted. Depending upon which is your rag of choice, when he was overlooked by United in favour of David Moyes, he either cried, along with a few million fans, or he wasn’t bothered because he had already decided to go back to Chelsea. (more…)