Posts Tagged ‘Leicester City’

Will Guus Hiddink Steady The Ship At Chelsea?

Posted: January 3, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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The first impression is that he will. Already Jon Obi Mikel has spoken of a more united dressing room since Mourinho went. There are rumours that Eden Hazard is also happier although he actually improved considerably when Jose first returned. Still, that relationship also seemed to have turned sour.

Michael Emenalo, Chelsea’s technical director cited “palpable discord” between the players and Mourinho as the main reason for his sacking but then rather contradicted this by saying that the players had followed instructions, given by Mourinho,to the letter.

This was clearly an attempt to absolve any of the players of any blame in the same way as a military officer will be blamed for the failings of his troops and morale will be increased, (hopefully).

The problem with this is that outside observers point out that the players followed his instructions to the letter last season and won the title. So, either Jose got it completely wrong by changing his instructions to the team this season, or it is a little more smoke blown over the situation. One has to assume that, had the players been following his instructions to the letter, then Chelsea would not be in the mess they are in at present. (more…)

Arsenal Implosion Still Pending!

Posted: December 30, 2015 in Arsenal, Football, Opinion, Premier League
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And what’s more folks, it may not happen at all!

Alright, one or two little sticks of dynamite have been set off lately, but they have barely caused a ripple on the perfect surface of The Emirates. A 4-0 defeat to a Southampton team, who can’t beat anybody else, can be laughed off particularly when it is followed by a 2-0 win in the very next game, over a Bournemouth team who aren’t losing at present. Wait a minute! Isn’t that the topsy-turvy Arsenal of old?

Usually, when Arsenal lost a game in the past, particularly by an embarrassing scoreline, it signalled the end of any title challenge. This season they seem to be getting it more right than wrong.

To begin with, they had a good start to the campaign, apart from losing their first home game, which is becoming an annual occurrence.

At one stage, Arsenal were saving their worst form for the cup competitions. (more…)

A Tale Of Two Cities, Leicester & Manchester

Posted: December 29, 2015 in Football, Manchester City, Opinion, Premier League
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(Now there’s a headline the press won’t think of using, much!)

PRE-MATCH

Time for Manchester City to step up to the plate and see if they can beat the best team in the Premier League thus far.

Whatever the result, there will be a handshake and a friendly word between two of the nicest managers in the Division.

Up to now City have remained fairly true to their standard description, inconsistent and poor, when missing some of the bigger players.

They certainly have to try and overcome this mental blockage they seem to have whenever Vincent Kompany is injured. With players such as Otamendi, Demichelis and Mangala to fill the two central defensive positions and Denayer, a full Belgian international, waiting in the wings, it is ridiculous that they struggle so much without their captain. Denayer, for example, can’t even get on the bench so goes out on loan, and he is a fully fledged member of the world’s best international team!

So, with Kompany missing again, it is up to the others to show how little his absence should affect the team.

Sergio Aguero returns again, probably to the annoyance of Wilfried Bony again, who will watch the game from the bench again, probably coming on around the hour mark so Aguero can put his feet up again. In fact the term “deja vu” could have been invented with Bony in mind! (more…)

Arsenal Scrape Past City

Posted: December 21, 2015 in Arsenal, Football, Manchester City, Opinion, Premier League
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If you were to believe the hype on Sky Sports, this was going to be the game of the century, as usual. The fact that a win for either team would not take them above Leicester City and would only really create a larger gap between the two was not something that was made much of.

Sky has become a mixture of Opta and Football Manager. Every clip is followed by in-depth statistics about how many games are lost when certain players are missing, how many shots there are per game, how many goals per minute. All fascinating stuff if you are Arsene Wenger or Manuel Pellegrini. I suspect the fans only really care about the next game, who is playing, who wins and who scores.

Tonight’s game was variously described as a “title decider”, “title eliminator” and a “winner-takes-all match. All the usual hyperbole that goes along with Sky trying to make sure that the maximum number of viewers tune in to watch it. They would be better served reducing their prices now that people have to pay BT Sport to watch the Champion’s League. They may find more people prepared to subscribe by being magnanimous in their pricing rather than munificent in their match descriptions! (more…)

Arsenal’s Waiting Game

Posted: December 16, 2015 in Arsenal, Football, Opinion, Premier League
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Arsenal sit near the top of the Premier League waiting. Waiting for other teams. Waiting and watching to see if the other teams will do something positive or negative, or will things stay as they are until the end of the season?

The first thing that they need to happen is for Leicester City to start flagging. To sell a player or two in January, and pick up an injury or two anytime. The fact that Leicester don’t have a big squad full of quality players could be their undoing. If it is, Arsenal are ready and waiting.

Another positive for Arsenal would be Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany remaining injured. That isn’t going to happen as they are both nearing fitness, but that is a state of affairs which is usually very temporary. It would also appear that City will have more Champions League games to manoeuvre as they should expect to beat Dynamo Kyiv. Arsenal will surely be free of any European hindrances after two games against Barcelona.

So, from these two clubs who would be seen as direct competitors, Arsenal are looking for some failings and, in the case of Leicester, a loss of form. City just need to carry on being inconsistent. If they do, Arsenal are waiting. (more…)

Jose Mourinho Through The Looking Glass

Posted: December 14, 2015 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion
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Having qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League as group winners and having lost their last Premier League game at home to Bournemouth, Jose Mourinho could be forgiven for wondering if he had passed through a looking glass into a strange new world where the unexpected is the norm.

On current form there is no way that Chelsea should have qualified as winners of the group in the Champions League. At one stage it seemed they would struggle to qualify at all! There is also, even on current form, no excuse for losing at home to Bournemouth, so the world of Chelsea appears to be a little upside down and inside out at present.

Tonight they had the chance to redeem themselves in the league against top four side Leicester City, managed by ex-Chelsea man Claudio Ranieri.

Jose has now decided that Claudio is actually a good egg and swears he didn’t mean all those nasty things he said about him when they were both in Italy. Claudio, as usual, has been the more gentlemanly of the two by not speaking at all, a tactic which would never occur to Mourinho. (more…)

Everton, City, United, Arsenal & Liverpool Opinion

Posted: December 13, 2015 in Football, Opinion, Premier League
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Starting with the early kick-off on Saturday, Everton should have been out of site by half-time in their game against Norwich , but a combination of bad luck and bad finishing ended up costing them two points.

Everything looked rosy when Romelu Lukaku gave them the lead and Norwich, at this stage, hadn’t really turned up. But, as is often the case when chances are missed, Norwich equalised through Wes Hoolahan and the result was a stalemate leaving Roberto Martinez frustrated and Alex Neil feeling like James Coburn in “The Great Escape”.

Next up was Manchester City who kicked off at the regulation time of 3:00 pm which is unusual in itself. City took the lead in the first half through Wilfried Bony but never really threatened again until they scored their second goal after 91 minutes. Before that Swansea had equalised and had also had a couple of chances to take the lead. (more…)

King Klopp Of The Kop

Posted: December 10, 2015 in Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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Since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the Premier League has been crying out for a larger than life person to replace him.

Not necessarily another dour Scot from Glasgow, after all, England’s top division has probably seen more than enough of them. The likes of Bill Shankly, Matt Busby, Billy McNeill, Tommy Docherty, Kenny Dalglish, Alex McLeish and now Alex Neil to name but a few of the more successful ones, have all managed clubs in the English league.

No, what was required was a character the stellar opposite. Somebody with loads of personality, lots of get-up-and-go, a witty riposte and a sharp tongue when required. Could these traits possibly be Germanic?

It’s very doubtful as we all know the Germans! Basically, they are Glaswegians with a strange accent, dour and uncompromising, get on with the job very successfully and with the minimum of fuss. But wait! There is one who fits the bill, one who has just taken over at Liverpool and is throwing his heart and soul into learning scouse. Jurgen Klopp is what everybody has been waiting for. (more…)

City Win, United Don’t

Posted: November 28, 2015 in Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester City were looking to avoid losing their third game in a row. With Sir Joe Aguero fit enough to start in a lesser game again and David Silva deemed benchworthy, the game not being important enough for him to start, Wilfried Bony was chosen to sit next to Silva and keep him amused with tales of what it is like to be an expensive substitute at the richest club in the world.

The result was only ever in doubt for about fifteen minutes in the second half when Southampton scored to make it 2-1 to City and there were a few nerves in the crowd. No worries though, normal service was resumed shortly afterwards when Kolarov, who spends nearly as much time in the opposition half as Aguero, scored with a good finish from a very good move.

Prior to all this, Kevin De Bruyne had scored a tap in and Delph had managed a deflected shot to register his first for the club. (more…)

How Unfair Is The Premier League?

Posted: November 27, 2015 in Football, Opinion, Premier League
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When Manchester United take to the field against Leicester City on Saturday evening, one of their title rivals will already have played and another one won’t.

Assuming, possibly wrongly, that Leicester aren’t going to stay the course then, when they kick off against United at 5:30pm on Saturday, Manchester City will have already played and therefore, obviously, the result from their game will be known.

By the time Arsenal kick off on Sunday in their game against Norwich, they will be aware of the results of both Manchester teams. Is this unfair, or does it not make any difference?

Let’s assume that both Manchester clubs lose. I know that is unlikely but it could happen. Would this then determine the tactics Arsene Wenger employs against Norwich? If he knows he can gain three points on the other two, then surely he will go for the win. If, however, the two Manchester clubs draw, then Wenger is likely to play with the intention of not losing as the last thing he would want to do is drop points when his rivals only picked up one each. If they both win then he has to go for the win. (more…)

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