Posts Tagged ‘Liverpool’

Will Pep Guardiola Be A Success At Manchester City?

Posted: June 28, 2016 in Managers, Manchester City, Opinion
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The jury is out on this one!

There are obvious reasons to expect that Pep will be successful at City, not
least given that he is working with people he knows well at the club. This is an obvious advantage from when he took over at Bayern Munich where he knew nobody really well in the beginning.

He also doesn’t have to win much next season to be rated a success. Manuel Pellegrini left having won only the Capital One Cup in his final year.

At Bayern the odds were against him even replicating what Jupp Heynckes had achieved, never mind bettering it. A treble of the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champion’s League was always going to be a tall order. As it turned out he found winning the Bundesliga and German Cup relatively easy and only the Champion’s League proved elusive. (more…)

Now The Idiot Van Gaal Has United Out Of The B Competition

Posted: March 17, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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When the teams were announced before the game and James Milner was going to be playing at left back for Liverpool, myself and Paul Scholes both thought the same thing: play Martial on the right to have a run at him.

What did van Gaal do? Played Mata on the right! Apart from being slow, very left-footed and useless as a winger this was a stupid move. He also played Lingard, who should be dropped, on the left and he looked completely clueless.

Another stupid move was playing Varela at right back when he has the Italian right back sat on the bench. Darmian has nineteen caps for Italy so surely he is good enough for this Manchester United team!

Fellaini was retained in midfield for no apparent reason and huffed and puffed without ever achieving anything. (more…)

Why Oh Why Is Van Gaal Still There?

Posted: March 13, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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(Louis, as he appears in my dreams, waving goodbye to Manchester United. It is long past the time when this dream should have come true)

West Ham are now favourites to progress to the semi-finals of the FA Cup having drawn with Manchester United at Old Trafford 1-1.

Liverpool are favourites to progress to the last eight of the Europa League having beaten United at Anfield 2-0.

The Red Devils currently lie sixth in the Premier League and look like missing out on a place in next season’s Champion’s League, unless Arsenal collapse, (which is a possibility), and/or City continue their current winless run.

This, to a deluded Dutchman, is progress. According to him his three year plan is well on track. Well, unless his three year plan was to waste millions of pounds on average players, finish in a lower league position each year and win absolutely nothing, then he is not on track. In fact, he is so far off track that he is in serious danger of requiring a psychiatrist to explain his problems to him. (more…)

Eden Hazard Will Probably Leave Chelsea For More Money & An Easier Life

Posted: February 23, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Opinion, Premier League
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Recently the press appear to have decided that Eden Hazard would rather go to Real Madrid than to PSG. This pre-supposes that he actually wants to leave Chelsea and go to a weaker league. Strangely, though, most of the best players do!

Luis Suarez chose Barcelona over staying at Liverpool or moving to Arsenal. Cristiano Ronaldo favoured Real Madrid above Manchester United. Zlatan Ibrahimovic who, rather amazingly is considered world class by some people, has managed to avoid being roughed up in England his entire career, as has Lionel Messi. Neymar is also staying in Spain for the time being although the appointment of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City may change one or two minds.

Hats off then to Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil who have both made the reverse trip to the Premier League from Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

Sanchez, in particular, hit the ground running upon his arrival and looks made for the Premier League. (more…)

There Is No Logic As To Why Louis Van Gaal Is Still In Charge Of Manchester United

Posted: February 13, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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So, Louis van Gaal would feel betrayed if Manchester United were speaking to Jose Mourinho about the manager’s position at United, would he? He has just led United to a defeat at Sunderland which leaves them six points away from the top four who all now have a game in hand. The chances of finishing in the top four are now very remote so, therefore, his spending of ÂŁ258 million on new players was both wasteful and unwise.

As a United supporter of more than fifty years I would feel completely betrayed if United WEREN’T talking to Jose Mourinho, I couldn’t care less what van Gaal thinks! He is not the man for Manchester United and the only people who don’t understand this are van Gaal himself and Ed Woodward.

Just to be straight, I have absolutely no time for Ed Woodward who, since amazingly being placed in charge of football matters, has overseen one disaster after another.

Starting with the appointment of David Moyes, a man with no big club experience and no trophy winning experience, through the purchase of Marouane Fellaini for ÂŁ4 million more than was necessary due to a missed release clause, it continued with the joke that was the Angel Di Maria transfer, the sacking of Moyes AFTER it became mathematically impossible to finish fourth or better, giving the next manager no chance of a relatively successful start. (more…)

Manchester United CAN Win A Trophy With Van Gaal In Charge

Posted: January 30, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The FA Cup
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Manchester United beating Derby County in the FA Cup at the iPro stadium was greeted by fans as a return of decent football.

The fact that Derby County occupy fifth place in the Championship and have lost their previous five games is, to a large extent, irrelevant. As is often said, you can only beat what is put in front of you.

The Cup competitions have a levelling effect. Derby, for one game, could give everything. They didn’t have to worry about dropping points, or whether or not a draw would be a good result, they could just concentrate on trying to win a one-off game of football, (unless there was a replay, of course). The fact that the game was against Manchester United just put the icing on the cake. So really, they were in a no-lose situation. A win would have put the cherry on top of the icing on the cake!

In truth they didn’t play particularly well, a fact emphasised by the scoreline, which was a reasonably fair reflection of the game.

Inevitably, the question will now arise, can Manchester United win the FA Cup?
The short answer is, yes, anybody CAN win the FA Cup. Maybe the question should be WILL they win it? That is the more difficult to answer. (more…)

Boring, Boring Man United

Posted: January 23, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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A month which saw Manchester United start with an undeserved win against Swansea saw them finish with a deserved defeat against Southampton.

In between these two matches they had undeservedly beaten a first division side in the FA Cup, thrown away the lead twice away at Newcastle and undeservedly beaten Liverpool at Anfield.

The only surprising aspect of the month of January is that United won ANY games. Their play, with the possible exception of the game at Newcastle, was abject throughout and it is amazing that anybody should think the pressure on van Gaal has eased.

I have just sat through yet another 90 minutes of unadulterated boredom. I have watched a Southampton player being given the man of the match award at Old Trafford, not because Southampton won, but because no United player would have been in the first ten!

I have watched an abject performance from Jesse Lingard, yet he stayed on the pitch for the full ninety minutes. Juan Mata started on the bench! Would somebody please explain to me how he can be left out yet Fellaini and Lingard can be selected? Don’t tell me it’s tactical, because van Gaal evidently does not know the meaning of the word. (more…)

A Good January For Manchester United & Van Gaal?

Posted: January 23, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Louis explains why he is not under any pressure despite having spent ÂŁ258 million and having a record worse than David Moyes)

The source of the above statement is the Daily Mirror, (so it must be true!), and it is based on figures from December, 2015. Here is the article.

So the pressure on van Gaal has eased following a, so far, unbeaten January. Why is this?

The month started with a 2-1 win over Swansea who, quite frankly, were awful until around the 80th minute. They then decided to show a little bit of spirit and, almost immediately, scored an equaliser. Once again this demonstrated that United ‘s defence is not the castle wall that van Gaal seems to think it is. Bear in mind that this game was at Old Trafford and Swansea could well be relegated this season, meaning that this result was hardly a reason for ecstasy among the United faithful.

The next game of January saw the reds welcome Sheffield United to Old Trafford. Two divisions below Manchester United, an easy win was expected and should have been delivered. As it turned out it was a struggle from start to finish and again exposed the weaknesses in van Gaal’s team, but this time in the attacking third. It took a penalty in the 93rd minute to win this one.

After the game van Gaal made no friends by coming up with excuses about the opposition defending with ten men behind the ball, etc., etc. Guess what Louis, better teams than Sheffield United have employed those tactics in the past and Mancheater United have still been able to record some comfortable wins against them! (more…)

Is Wayne Rooney Back?

Posted: January 17, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(and, if so, where has he been?)

Is Wayne Rooney back to what passes as his best nowadays? Having scored a couple against Newcastle and now the winner against Liverpool, United fans could be forgiven for thinking that he is on the way back.

The truth is probably that he isn’t! At 30 years of age he has certainly lost some of the pace he never really had and watching him push the ball past players then resort to shoving them when he can’t outrun them is, frankly, quite embarrassing.

He has been tried in a deeper position at United at the expense of players who are better in the role and, with the exception of a decent range of passes, he brings little to the table in this position. The other problem with this is the fact that United already have more than enough midfielders.

He kept his place in the team for many weeks due to van Gaal’s illogical reasoning that “the captain doesn’t get dropped”. So, for quite a large part of the season, United effectively played with ten men. Yes, he was THAT bad!

Now he has found his shooting boots again he can, deservedly, be picked to play upfront, either alongside Martial in a 4-4-2 or on his own in a 4-2-3-1. (more…)

Louis Van Gaal & Arsene Wenger Need A Win

Posted: January 16, 2016 in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Louis van Gaal and Arsene Wenger need Sunday to be a good day. They need it for different reasons, but need it they do.

With Manchester City and Tottenham winning on Saturday and Leicester drawing, Arsenal will need at least a point from Stoke City at The Britannia Stadium to return to the summit.

They currently sit third, one point behind the leaders Leicester and level on points with City. Although their goal difference is inferior to City’s it is superior to Leicester’s so they would go top with a draw. Obviously it would be better from an Arsenal point of view if they could get all three points, that way they could at least put a little daylight between themselves and the pursuers.

A loss to Stoke would not be disastrous, however it would encourage Tottenham Hotspur who are currently only four points behind them in fourth place.

For Manchester United only a win will lift them above West Ham into fifth place. More importantly it would keep them within two points of Tottenham. What they certainly don’t need to be doing is allowing a gap to develop between fourth place and the rest. (more…)

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