Posts Tagged ‘Europa League’

A Pointless Substitution By JosĂ© Mourinho Costs Manchester United Two Points

Posted: December 4, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Premier League manager’s are paid millions every season to ensure, in varying degrees, success or survival. The very top managers are paid to compete for the title.

José Mourinho would come under the heading of the very top managers, so here is my question:

If I, sat in my armchair watching the game, can say to my wife that if Fellaini comes on he will give away the free-kick from which Everton will equalise, how come Mourinho can’t work it out? It was rank bad management and, in fact, it was the manager who cost United the two points with that decision. (more…)

Manchester United Under JosĂ© Mourinho, New Era Or False Dawn?

Posted: September 30, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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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…)

5 Things That Would Represent Success For JosĂ© Mourinho And Manchester United This Season

Posted: September 29, 2016 in European Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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1. Finish in the top four at least

If, by the end of this season, Manchester United have finished in the top four then this would have to be perceived as more successful than last season.

Failure to even get in a position where pre-qualification was necessary for the Champion’s League was the final nail in the coffin of Louis Van Gaal. The previous couple of nails had been the boring football and the fact that his popularity with the fans had sunk lower than a snake’s belly. (more…)

JosĂ© Mourinho Sees A Much Better Manchester United Performance WITHOUT Wayne Rooney

Posted: September 24, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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The majority finally got what they have wanted for a while. Dress it up however you like but Wayne Rooney was dropped through lack of form. He wasn’t injured, he wasn’t suspended, he was just dropped.

He was, however, on the bench which must have been in deference to his seniority and longevity becasue his recent performances haven’t even merited a place there! (more…)

What Importance Does JosĂ© Mourinho Place On Winning The Europa League With Manchester United?

Posted: September 14, 2016 in Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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In the not too distant past, José Mourinho would have poured scorn on this competition. He always saw it as a tournament for losers, as a punishment for not being good enough in your own league and, therefore, confined to the basement of European football to compete with teams whose names are difficult to pronounce from countries which are difficult to find.

This was a view shared, strangely enough, by his great friend and hero Sir Alex Ferguson whose own journey into the Europa League was a one-time experience and very short-lived. (more…)

Manchester City And Manchester United Should Progress In Europe With Guardiola And Mourinho In Charge

Posted: August 26, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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Despite the moaners and the harbingers of doom, Manchester City should be able to qualify from the group stages of the Champion’s League for the second year running.

As expected they will come up against one of Pep Guardiola’s old clubs almost immediately when they meet up with Barcelona.

As usual, and purely because Barcelona are present in the group, this is being called the “group of death”. It is the group City get every year according to all those “in the know”. (more…)

Manchester United Or City? Jose Mourinho Or Pep Guardiola? Who Will Reign Supreme In Manchester?

Posted: July 21, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Next season there will be almost as much interest in who wins the battle of Manchester as there will be in who eventually wins the Premier League. Mainly in Manchester of course, but the battle will still be watched with a certain amount of interest from all places outside of the “M” postal code area.

It is unfortunate that the teams cannot be compared in the Champion’s League due to the shortcomings of each of the previous managers, both of whom underachieved in their final season.

Louis van Gaal underachieved by so much that United haven’t even qualified for the tournament and City will have to play a pre-qualifier, (which they should win), having finished in a lowly fourth position last time out. (more…)

Zlatan Given Extra Time Off By Manchester United Boss Jose Mourinho

Posted: July 14, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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(Zlatan has to force his eyes open to try and overcome extreme tiredness brought on by playing a game of football)

So Zlatan needs an extended rest because of his exertions in the Euros! UEFA rules state that players appearing in the competition must be given three weeks break at the end of it. This means that Ibrahimovic would be able to go to China with the rest of the team but, as the poor soul doesn’t have the strength to pull his suitcase, he is being given extra hols by his new boss.

As well as displaying a laudable level of compassion and sympathy it also gives us an insight into how well Jose Mourinho looks after the elder citizens of the team.

The United manager, having watched all the games in France, will have noticed that Ibrahimovic was picked to play in all three of Sweden’s games, meaning that he spent a total of 270 minutes actually on a football pitch during a competitive game. (more…)

When Will Jose Mourinho Take Over At Manchester United?

Posted: February 19, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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If, as is widely expected, Jose Mourinho becomes the next Manchester United manager, he will take over at the start of next season.

This is the only logical explanation as to why Louis van Gaal is still there. It would appear that Ryan Giggs has turned down the opportunity to take over until the end of the season, having decided that he wants the job on a permanent basis, or not at all.

This looks like leaving him with his second option, at least for the time being so, unless Mourinho wants him as a coach, Giggs may have to leave to come back. This is not necessarily a bad thing as nobody really knows if he is up to the United job or not and, as Wilf McGuinness proved when taking over from Sir Matt Busby, a loyal ex-player is not always the best choice for the Manchester United manager’s job, particularly when it is his first managerial appointment.

This leaves United with two further options. Either keep van Gaal until the end of the season, risking further wrath from the supporters and probably ending the season trophy-less and outside the top four, or fire him now and bring in Mourinho while there is still a chance of winning the Europa League and/or the FA Cup, even finishing in the top four would be looked at with renewed optimism if there was a change of manager. (more…)

How Manchester United Can Still Challenge For The Title

Posted: December 22, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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If United are to turn their slight improvement from Moyes to van Gaal, domestically anyway, into a title challenging season there is still a way this can be achieved. However, a few things need to be done.

Louis van Gaal needs to go. It is fairly obvious that the players, whilst denying any problems with him, don’t like what he asks them to do on the pitch. It would be a different story if they were winning games and scoring goals, but they are not.

Playing Anthony Martial on the wing, for example, is bad enough, but ordering him to stay there, without the freedom to join the attack in the middle is ridiculous.

Continuously selecting a well below par Wayne Rooney because, “he is my captain and deserves special privileges”, has got to the stage where other teams are hoping this continues because they then play a United side already down to ten men.

These two situations alone prove to me that van Gaal should be in his villa in Portugal. (more…)

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