Posts Tagged ‘Henrikh Mkhitaryan’

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The first thing we learnt was that José Mourinho, by his own admission, started with the wrong selection of at least two players.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan had been sent home from the Armenian squad due to an injury picked up in their first game. It was patently obvious that the derby game against Manchester City was too soon after the injury and that he hadn’t recovered sufficiently to be effective. This was shown in his sluggish first half performance which resulted in him being replaced for the second half. (more…)

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So that’s it then. It’s all over until the next time and people are beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about.

At this stage it is probably worth mentioning that, in order to make sense, this article is better when read after the previous one which can be found here.

The draw was the widely predicted result and so it came as a surprise when City emerged victorious. This situation, though, is hardly critical for United at this early stage of the season. (more…)

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What can we expect from a Manchester United versus Manchester City game in the modern era?

Contested between, arguably, the two greatest managers in the world, two teams with several world class players between them seem to be very evenly matched but, as usual, there is still time for a spanner or two to be thrown into the works.

It already appears as though Manchester United will be without Henrikh Mhkitaryan through injury whilst on international duty. Marcos Rojo and Antonio Valencia will not be available due to arriving home the day before the game and Luke Shaw was sent home from the England squad as a precaution but should be OK to play. (more…)

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(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…)

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In driving rain at the KC stadium in Kingston-upon-Hull, Zlatan Ibrahimović discovered, if he didn’t already know, what the Premier League is all about.

Hull City who, against all the odds, had won their opening two games at home to Leicester City and away to Swansea City gave it everything and came very close to taking a point from this game.

Ravaged by injuries, surrounded by confusion over a supposed takeover and with a caretaker manager with no previous experience in the role, they almost deserved a draw. The only reason they didn’t fully deserve it was because Manchester United deserved to win. (more…)

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When David Moyes was appointed Manchester United manager to follow in the footsteps of the great Sir Alex Ferguson, everybody at Old Trafford, including the most important people, the fans, were prepared to give him a chance.

He was christened “The Chosen One” because, in a deed which seemed very unlikely, it was said that Fergie had chosen him as his successor. The reason it was unlikely is that a club like Manchester United does not allow one man to make decisions which affect the whole future of the club and it’s employees. (more…)

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He was born in Yerevan, capital of Armenia, in 1989. When Henrikh was seven years old his father died of a brain tumour at the age of 33.

Football certainly played a prominent part in his family life as his dad has been a striker for FC Ararat Yerevan during the 1980’s, his mother is the head of the national team department in the Armenian football federation and his sister, Monica, works at UEFA headquarters.

In the early 1990’s the family moved to France to escape the Armenian mafia, where Henrikh played for ASOA Valence and helped them gain promotion to Ligue 2. The club no longer exists. (more…)

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Before joining Manchester United few people in England had heard of Eric Bailly. A 22 year old defender from the Ivory Coast, he was bought from Villarreal for a bargain €30 million. This bargain was not as impressive as the one Villarreal received when they bought him from his first club, Espanyol. They paid a mere €5.7 million and so made a profit of €24.3 million, not too shabby a deal for them!

He made his debut for the Ivory Coast national team in 2015, in a friendly against Nigeria. He then went on to represent his country at the Africa Cup of Nations where he played in all six games, culminating in winning the trophy. (more…)

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Despite a long injury list and a manager who has only been with the club for three weeks, Sunderland were rather unfortunate not to take a point from the Etihad. It isn’t that they really deserved anything from the game, it’s just that City hardly ran away with it.

Whilst it is true that City were also without players as new signings Leroy SanĂ© and Ilkay Gundogan were both injured, it is also true to say that City have never missed these two players before, so shouldn’t do so now. They were bought to add something to the team not take something away when they don’t play! They were also without Vincent Kompany, as usual, and Nicolas Otamendi, so John Stones made his debut alongside new centre back Aleksander Kolarov. (more…)

guardiola-vs-mourinho

The squad strengths are similar. The fame and reputations of the two managers are similar. In fact, there are so many similarities between the two teams this season that it is very difficult to say that one is better than the other and even more difficult to say which one that is.

Manchester City have a world class goalkeeper prone to the occasional mistake. United also have a world class goalkeeper who makes less mistakes so United have the edge here. (more…)