Posts Tagged ‘Jose Mourinho’

Jose Mourinho Has Quickly Turned A Negative Into A Positive At Manchester United, (With A Little Help From Pogba, Bailly, Mhkitaryan And Ibrahimović)

Posted: August 21, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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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…)

Do Manchester United And Manchester City Treat Their Unwanted Players Unfairly?

Posted: August 20, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Another question which may be asked in lieu of the title is; does anybody care? After all these are very highly paid individuals, they will be sold to another club at some stage and they will remain very highly paid individuals.

Maybe it is more a question of pride and respect or the lack of it when it comes to a manager’s treatment of his players, in which case the money is not an issue.

Last season it was Victor Valdes at Manchester United who was ostracised for his behaviour. In his case Louis van Gaal had decided that Valdes had acted against his and the club’s interest by not wanting to turn out for the reserves. This was never fully cleared up as Valdes always said that he had never refused to play for them. Whatever the truth of the matter the result was that Valdes spent almost two seasons on the naughty step and was banned from being anywhere near the first team before running down his contract and moving to Middlesbrough. (more…)

Jose Mourinho Has Strengthened Manchester United In All The Key Positions

Posted: August 19, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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In contrast Louis van Gaal strengthened the midfield by finalising the purchase of Ander Herrera and buying Daley Blind, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin. These players were to add to Michael Carrick, Jesse Lingard, Adnan Januzaj, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata and anybody else I may have missed.

He also bought a full back, Matteo Darmian who, at the time, seemed a good acquisition as he was the Italian national team’s full back, a teenager called Anthony Martial who will probably turn out to be the best buy of the van Gaal era, Marcos Rojo and he rubber stamped the purchase of Luke Shaw although it is likely that any incoming manager would have done the same. (more…)

Who Is Henrikh Mhkitaryan And Was Jose Mourinho Right To Sign Him For Manchester United?

Posted: August 17, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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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…)

Who Is Eric Bailly And Was Jose Mourinho Right To Sign Him For Manchester United?

Posted: August 15, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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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…)

Jose Mourinho And Pep Guardiola Both Register A Win As Manchester United And City Collect The Points

Posted: August 14, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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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…)

Has Ed Woodward Finally Come Of Age At Manchester United? Or Is It The Jose Mourinho Factor?

Posted: August 13, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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(Ed struggles to convince Mino Raiola that his scarf wasn’t part of the Pogba deal!)

David Gill is a tall man who casts a very large shadow. For the last three years, if you looked very closely underneath this shadow, you would have seen a little man from Chelmsford called Ed Woodward.

Although he had long left his role as CEO at United, the fact that Gill had managed to carry out his functions with the minimum of fuss and the maximum of proficiency, meant that he was always going to be a hard act to follow. (more…)

Either Manchester United Or Manchester City Will Win The Title, But Which One? Jose Mourinho Or Pep Guardiola?

Posted: August 12, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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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…)

Why Would Jose Mourinho Sell Juan Mata Yet Keep Wayne Rooney at Manchester United?

Posted: August 11, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Mata keeps his distance while Rooney, as usual, creeps up to the boss)

This is a perfectly reasonable question and yet the answer, for some unknown reason, appears to be quite complicated.

Certainly, over the last couple of years Juan Mata has contributed much, much more to the team than has Rooney. He is not a volatile character and represents the club in a much more positive and favourable way than Rooney.

Last season, for example, Mata made 49 appearances and scored 10 goals whereas Rooney made 38 appearances and scored 15 goals. Mata was also responsible for assisting many more goals than Rooney. (more…)

After Some Good Signings Jose Mourinho Now Needs To Clear Some Of The Dead Wood From Manchester United

Posted: August 10, 2016 in European Football, Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Even if Jose Mourinho does not make another signing for Manchester United this transfer window, there should be no complaints about the business that has been concluded.

The arrivals of Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Paul Pogba have completely renewed the fan’s faith in the ability of the team to go on and win something this time out.

Ed Woodward has not been vilified and so he should also see this transfer window as a success, having managed to secure the services of each of the Mourinho requirements. It may have cost a king’s ransom but what good is the money if it just sits in a bank? Ed certainly likes spending it as much as he likes making it! (more…)

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