Roy Keane thinks that, if he’s not careful, Ole Gunnar Solskjær will be thrown under the bus by the players. Why does he say that? If he’s right then there are only really two reasons for this to happen.
The first is that the players don’t like Solskjær and want him gone. This is unlikely as the Norwegian comes across as a very likeable person which, in fact, is one of his problems.
So Ed’s dreams of a new league are over for the time being. Only a few days before the collapse of the €uropean $uper £eague Ed had, apparently, been discussing the benefits to be reaped from the changes being made to the Champion’s League which will take effect in 2024.
This is the only part of the whole clustermess of which we here at WSA are unsure. If Ed really was discussing the Champion’s League he may well have been oblivious to his club’s owner’s plans to form their own. Yet this would be even more remarkable given that the Glazers always appear to have Ed do their dirty work so the chances of him being unaware of their dastardly plan would be lower than a snake’s belly!
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How can a club like Manchester United not know that one of their star players does not have a visa?
The pre-season tour will already be starting without their new signings Fred and Diogo Dalot. The former because he still has a week off from not playing in the World Cup and the latter because he is recovering from injury.
Most of the rest of the World Cup participants will not be joining the tour at all so it is quite important during these friendly games that alternative tactics and set-ups can be worked on. (more…)
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…)
(Sky Sports have now resorted to showing a plane arriving at Manchester airport with the monumental news that “Paul Pogba could be on it!”)
Isn’t it exciting? Never mind the ludicrous amount of money that it is costing Manchester United to buy a midfielder. Never mind that he was, until four years ago, a Manchester United player who was allowed to leave for Juventus for around £800K. Never mind even that he wanted to go to Real Madrid who, having set the two previous world record transfer fees when buying Cristiano Ronaldo and then Gareth Bale, decided they couldn’t afford him.
Mino Raiola, Pogba’s Mister 15%, on hearing the news that Real Madrid wouldn’t be buying his client, immediately set about convincing Pogba that United was always the place to go and he would never have entertained Madrid anyway. (more…)
To be honest, this was a very decent performance by Manchester United. Despite going a goal down in the first half and missing a penalty they played with enough purpose and resolve to score five good goals.
To add to the reasons for slight celebration, two of the goals were scored by Marcus Rashford, making his debut after Anthony Martial had decided that David De Gea shouldn’t have the monopoly on pulling up with an injury just before kick-off. What further added to the feel-good factor was the fact that Memphis Depay was the man-of-the-match.
To continue with the honesty, though, this was always a game that a Manchester United team should expect to win. They are in the Europa League playing teams who weren’t good enough for the Champion’s League. The fact that they have now fallen into this category is their own fault, but they should still be good enough to win it, even though they probably won’t.
Staying with “honesty is the best policy”, the young lads who won the game tonight were not playing because van Gaal gives young lads a chance, no, they were playing because injuries give young lads a chance. (more…)
So Zlatan Ibrahimovic is available at the end of the season. He can even go to the Premier League if he so wants. He will have a choice of top clubs just waiting to welcome him with open arms and open cheque book.
Well I, for one, hope that is not the case. I don’t have a lot of time for him and his arrogant ways. He is a vastly overrated footballer who, similar to Wayne Rooney, occasionally does something brilliant. He is 34 years of age which makes him two years older than Robin van Persie when he was deemed “not good enough” by the Manchester United manager. Ibrahimovic will certainly add nothing to a top six team.
Maybe a year at West Ham or Southampton if those clubs are not beneath the conceited one, which I feel sure that they are.
Having just mentioned Rooney, apparently Manchester United are considering an offer from China for him. I hope this one is true because he has certainly long outstayed his welcome as far as I am concerned. As anyone who has followed these chronicles for more than five minutes will know, had it been up to me he would have been sold the first time his toys came out of the pram, when he had the audacity to hold the club to ransom. (more…)
(The answer to the above question is that he probably will, but as a commentator!)
When Gary Neville’s ill fated stint in charge of Valencia reaches it’s inevitable conclusion, he will have a choice to make.
Assuming Peter Lim wants him to carry on in the role of coach at the Spanish club, which I actually doubt, he will have to make more of a commitment than he has done so far. I think it far more likely that Lim is looking for a replacement as I write.
Moving to Spain when you are a multi-millionaire ex-footballer is not the chore it once was and, indeed, still is for a lot of the less well-off ex-pats. He will have private tutors for his children and one for himself in order to try and learn Spanish, which he will not be able to do in five months, but he should master the basics.
He will have lawyers, solicitors, translators, all at his beck and call to smooth the transition from Manchester to Valencia.
The worst affected in this move will probably be the children, assuming that they have friends in Manchester. As previously mentioned, they will be tutored at home meaning they will rarely come into contact with other children, certainly not the Spanish ones, unless at club functions. His wife will find more well-off British women to pass the time with on the long days when hubby is at the training ground or travelling to away matches. (more…)
If we are to believe everything that we read, which we don’t, then all four of the above mentioned managers could be out of their jobs at the end of the season.
Guus Hiddink is an interim manager at Chelsea. He may do very well and be offered the job on a longer term basis. The question is, does he want it? He seems to be quite happy to flit in and out of jobs for short periods of time. He has also expressed a desire to spend more time fishing, which a short term contract would allow him to do at virtually anytime he wished.
Since his unsuccessful flirtations with Russia and the Netherlands national sides, Guus may feel that he is getting a little past it for the big stage. Although international management does not carry the day to day pressures of a domestic team, the whole weight of a country is on the shoulders of the coach when attempting to qualify for a tournament or even win one, so it is no surprise he has not leapt straight back into that side of the game. With Chelsea, he can walk away should he so decide. I think he will. (more…)
Carlo Ancelotti is going to Bayern Munich where, after succeeding as usual, he will be fired as usual. He will probably win the treble but, because he is cursed, he will still be fired.
At two of his previous clubs he has a record which most managers would be proud to have. He was fired from his job as Chelsea manager having won the League and FA Cup double and, at Real Madrid, he was fired having won the Champion’s League. So he could be considered either a trifle unlucky or a loser for only winning the top trophies and none of the lesser ones.
Sympathy is not a feeling too much in evidence when it comes to highly paid football managers losing their job. Particularly when you consider that the top ones will almost certainly walk straight into another one.
So what will be the chain of events this time, I don’t hear you ask? (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 