So that’s it! We’re back! After a short break to try and rejuvenate, (a word that literally does not describe the actual result of a “rest”), we return with congratulations in order to Gareth Southgate and the England team who, by winning their division in the Nation’s League, narrowly avoided relegation.
Now that’s excitement, although there were still one or two stifled yawns during the game against Croatia which, being the masochistic type, we actually watched in Croatia. (more…)
After publishing a recent article extolling the lack of virtues, not to mention ability, contained within the frames of Antonio Valencia and Raheem Sterling, we decided to have a go at picking a team made up of the most overrated Premier League players from the “big six”. See if you agree with our selection or, if not, then let us know who we have missed or who you would pick. So here it is, a potential relegation team: (more…)
The Premier League has gone from a two-team competition whereby it was contested between Manchester United and Arsenal, to a two-team competition whereby Arsenal were replaced by Chelsea. It then became a three-team competition when Manchester City woke up one morning to find they had won the lottery.
In fairness, they didn’t become serious contenders overnight and it wasn’t until they had spent many millions that they won the title back in 2011. They have since won it a further twice. (more…)
(it won’t be very long before Mr. Roy can say that the result against Iceland wasn’t too bad after all!)
Today we are continuing with the theme we started yesterday when we published an old article we had previously written for another publication.
This time it is the turn of Pundit Arena and a post we wrote just over three years ago. It is only short but is very topical at the moment and we were quite surprised to realise that feelings towards the international break were the same then as they are now.
That being the case, why has nobody bothered to come up with a better solution? Or is it the usual case of, “we don’t really care about the fans or what they think. As long as they keep shelling out a fortune to watch the rubbish served up at international level then we are alright Jack”. (more…)
These are the kind of questions often asked but seldom answered. Usually, the query will just invoke a smile, a shrug of the shoulders and any one of several quick retorts from, “priceless” to “nobody has enough money to buy them“.
In actual fact, there weren’t many members of that team who would be worth a fortune nowadays. Let’s take a look and a few educated guesses:
1. Alex Stepney – Goalkeeper. Arrived at United from Chelsea in 1967 to replace Harry Gregg, who was to retire through injury. Although capable of spectacular saves and a very reliable goalkeeper he was around during a golden age for English goalkeepers, hence he was only capped once for England. (more…)
Wayne Rooney, depending upon which newspaper you choose to believe, is paid anything form £200k – £300k per week.
He is proud of his achievements in the game. That is fine, but what has he actually achieved that nobody else has?
He is captain of Manchester United because there was nobody else at the time but, most people would agree, he should not be captain of United.
He is captain of England because he is captain of Manchester United and, again, most people would agree, it is not a position he should be holding. (more…)
Like a chain smoker reaching the airport exit after an eight hour flight, like a shopaholic after a particularly long bank holiday weekend during which all of the shops have been closed, like a fish returning to water after almost too long out of it, these are all experiences which are accompanied, at some stage, with a massive sigh of relief. To return to normal having been out of the comfort zone for so long is a blessing. Just ask the fish! If speech were possible it would surely mop it’s brow, say “phew” and thank it’s lucky stars that it were still around to tell the tale. (more…)
(With Sam Allardyce as England boss, many players will now dread international breaks as much as most fans do)
Like an ad break just at the most exciting moment of your favourite TV show, it’s here again! Yes folks, just three games into the new season and everything stops for the internationals. It isn’t a long break, just an annoying one when your favourite new series had just begun a new run.
Wayne Rooney, recently given the nod to carry on as England captain because there is nobody else, can stroll around the pitch thinking about what he is going to do when he retires from international football, whilst many wish he would retire from club football in order to prolong his international career. It just goes to show how much people love the national team when they couldn’t care less whether or not their captain is any good. (more…)
The battle for control of Manchester between the two clubs also looks set to be the battle for the Premier League title. At present, the only other team who may be a threat to that dominance is Chelsea, one of those teams from down South.
With newly appointed Antonio Conte in charge and having won three out of three, they are the only club going toe to toe with United and City in the early stages. (more…)
Well that was refreshing! Having watched every agonising minute of Manchester United under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal, I am already far more optimistic with Mourinho in charge than I ever was with either of the other two.
There were good moments from the Moyes side and the same goes for the van Gaal side. The problem was that they were so few and far between that their dismissals were met with the same kind of celebrations that are usually reserved for winning a trophy.
Mourinho’s first game in charge, the friendly against Wigan, saw most of the kids given some game time. Fosu-Mensah started, as did James Wilson. Luke Shaw made a welcome return after injury and looked to link up again with Depay on the left. Depay still looks short on confidence and this is the reason that the link-up didn’t work as well as it might have done. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 