Posts Tagged ‘Jose Mourinho’

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So Liverpool are through to the semi-finals of the Champion’s League having beaten Manchester City home and away in their quarter-final tie.

There is no doubt they deserve to be there as the damage was all done in the first leg at Anfield where City proved, yet again, that if their defence is put under any pressure they don’t have a defence!

The second leg may have been more interesting had a perfectly good goal from Leroy SanĂ© not been disallowed. This would have seen City go in at half-time leading 2-0 and chomping at the bit for more in the second half. As it was, they left the field somewhat dispirited and weren’t the same team after the break. (more…)

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Now that José Mourinho, obviously emboldened by his win at The Etihad, has decided that everybody is undervaluing both him and his team, can we expect him to keep the chequebook closed this summer?

After all, according to him we don’t give his team enough credit for the way they have managed to hang on to second place in the Premier League and, by a simple process of logic, we also don’t give him enough credit for the same.

Should we strike up an award now for runners-up in the title race? Maybe we should have an Olympics-style ceremony and give out gold, silver and bronze medals to the top three. (more…)

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The most important lesson from this season, not just this game, is that neither of the two clubs actually defend as well as they think they can.

Manchester City are used to having so much possession that they rarely need to defend, when they do need to defend they are not very good at it.

Manchester United have the best goalkeeper in the world who has been their player of the year for the last few seasons. If United’s defence was any good then their goalkeeper wouldn’t continually win this award.

So knowing that the two defences are a lot more dodgy than people would have us believe we sat down to watch the game expecting goals at both ends. (more…)

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Paul Pogba could be about to join the list of “star” players who have joined Manchester United and left a relatively short while later.

His name could be added to those of Angel Di Maria, Juan Verón, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Henrik Larsson to name but a few. Their spells at the club were short for different reasons but, nevertheless, they were still short.

Pogba, unlike some of Mourinho’s other sales, was a star when he arrived at Old Trafford for his “second coming”. The likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Romelu Lukaku had not yet reached that status when sold by Mourinho during his time as Chelsea manager. (more…)

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Everton v Liverpool

JĂĽrgen Klopp has already prepared his excuse in the event of a poor performance in the Merseyside derby on Saturday morning.

Having explained, to a yawning and fed-up public, how his overpaid stars will still be absolutely shattered and worn out having spent a whole ninety minutes playing a game of football, he went on to further inform us that two whole days is not enough time to recover from this unnatural amount of exertion.

Everton will clearly have the advantage because they will have had a complete week in which to prepare for this game and it is at Goodison Park when all said and done. How much more of an advantage could they have? (more…)

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This may seem like a strange statement to make when you take into consideration the fact that the club are very likely to finish second this season and to an almost invincible Manchester City. The fact is though, that this United team flatters to deceive, they are kidding a few people into thinking they really are the second best team in the country.

On number of points achieved there is no argument but, for everything else, it depends on which definition of “best” is being used at the time!

Are they the second best team to watch? NO. Are they the second best team in terms of goals scored? NO. Do they have the second best possession statistics? NO. In fact, on the last stat, they are 6th and only 0.1% better than Southampton! (source: Transfermarkt). (more…)

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If Manchester City can beat Manchester United in the upcoming derby match they will he confirmed as Premier League champions.

It will be the earliest a club has ever been hailed as the winners and would set yet another record for Pep Guardiola’s team.

The question, seemingly on everybody’s lips, is can they do it at home to United? People appear to think that this would make it some kind of special achievement. Why? They only have to win ONE of their last seven games, why is this one so important? (more…)

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There has long been a debate, which has no answer, about which is the stronger emotion between love and hate. Both can be equally destructive and, when felt in the right context, both can be equally rewarding although hate is usually by far the more negative of the two.

In the Premier League’s top six there are three outstanding managers and a fourth who manages to stand out even from the outstanding.

To JosĂ© Mourinho, the glass is always half empty which, to his way of thinking, is better than being completely empty. To the other three, the glass is always half full and their ambition is to fill it to the brim! (more…)

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It’s back! The Premier League has returned. After an enforced break during which we witnessed……..well…….nothing really except England and Scotland both won a meaningless game of football, (it’s the meaningful ones with which they have a problem), business as usual is restored to the nation.

The top six are all back in action and here we look at what has happened and what will happen in their games. (more…)

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With the possible exception of Ashley Young, who has benefitted from lavish praise and plenty of game time since José Mourinho became the Manchester United manager, there is nothing to suggest that others have improved and, in fact, players such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba seem to have regressed.

By the time the Armenian left Old Trafford for Arsenal and the welcoming arms of ArsĂ©ne Wenger, he almost looked a broken man. His confidence appeared to be shot to pieces and his last few appearances for United had seen him regularly substituted after poor displays during which he continuously gave the ball away. Hopefully, for his sake, he will fare better in London. (more…)