Posts Tagged ‘Manuel Pellegrini’

Manchester United Need To Win The FA Cup But Does Van Gaal?

Posted: January 19, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester United need to win the FA Cup. Not to keep Louis van Gaal in a job because, if United finish outside of the top four, he will leave as a failure. The reason they need to win it is for their own confidence and self-belief.

If they finish the season empty handed and, as is expected, van Gaal leaves, there will be more doubts than definites and more pessimism than optimism. No Champion’s League football next season, as with last, would not be a total disaster. It would, however, demonstrate how far United have fallen since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

United have a chance of picking up two trophies this season, (three if you count the Premier League, which they are not good enough to win). They could win the Europa League and maybe should take it seriously as it is another route into the Champion’s League. As already mentioned they should be trying all-out to win the FA Cup. The fans will forgive boring, inept performances if trophies are won, (for a short while anyway). If nothing is won and the performances are not good then expect the fans to get on the player’s backs, after the manager of course.

The problem facing United at present is that they don’t appear to have improved. They scraped into fourth position last season, meaning they had to qualify for the Champion’s League. They were then eliminated very tamely and softly from a relatively easy group, AFTER having spent ÂŁ258 million on new players! (more…)

Louis Van Gaal & Manchester United Just Don’t Fit Together

Posted: January 17, 2016 in Football, Liverpool, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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A win is a win, but don’t be fooled into thinking that this was a good performance from United. They were second best for 75% of this match and only Liverpool’s inability to finish kept the scoreline at 0-0 for so long.

Yet again van Gaal infuriated with his selection. Ashley Young, a winger, playing at wing back. Matteo Darmian, a right back, playing at left back and Daley Blind , a defensive midfielder, playing at centre back. Marouane Fellaini was selected, inexplicably , ahead of Juan Mata and he actually managed to last the ninety minutes.

If anybody wonders why this type of selection always annoys me then imagine Manchester City doing it. Jesus Navas playing at wing back, Fernandinho at centre back and Pablo Zabaleta as left back. Pellegrini would never play these players out of their natural positions which goes a long way to explaining why City are challenging for the title and United aren’t even in the top four!

United were totally disjointed and looked completely out of sorts for the vast majority of the game.

Daley Blind seemed to have his own game plan whereby he kept firing long high balls towards Wayne Rooney. As was to be expected every single one of these was easily won by either Sakho or Toure. (more…)

Manchester United & Newcastle Serve Up A Treat

Posted: January 12, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Is this one of van Gaal’s must-win games? I’ve lost track now!

Anyway, before the game starts I just want to let off a bit of steam about his ridiculous statement that he occasionally gets bored watching United. So this is to him:

Dear Louis,

Please come down off your pedestal and don’t bother with the condescending, supercilious remarks. You are being paid an absolute fortune to watch Manchester United whereas the fans are paying an absolute fortune to watch them. So for you to say that YOU get bored watching them is an insult to the supporter’s intelligence.

If you think they are boring then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! You are the coach, it is up to you to train the team, set the tactics and ensure that your instructions are being followed. If the team is boring it is because YOU ARE BORING! A team is a reflection of the manager.

If you set up the team to attack and play exciting football and they don’t follow your instructions then try GETTING OFF YOUR FAT BACKSIDE, GOING TO THE TOUCHLINE AND YELLING AT THEM UNTIL THEY GET IT RIGHT! It may not be your favourite coaching method, but it has been proven to work. If you don’t believe me just ask Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho. You can walk across Manchester and speak to Manuel Pellegrini, it works for him as well. Even Mr Cool, Arsene Wenger uses this method to get instructions to his players! (more…)

What Next For The Four Old Men? (Hiddink 69, Wenger 66, Van Gaal 64, Pellegrini 62)

Posted: January 7, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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If we are to believe everything that we read, which we don’t, then all four of the above mentioned managers could be out of their jobs at the end of the season.

Guus Hiddink is an interim manager at Chelsea. He may do very well and be offered the job on a longer term basis. The question is, does he want it? He seems to be quite happy to flit in and out of jobs for short periods of time. He has also expressed a desire to spend more time fishing, which a short term contract would allow him to do at virtually anytime he wished.

Since his unsuccessful flirtations with Russia and the Netherlands national sides, Guus may feel that he is getting a little past it for the big stage. Although international management does not carry the day to day pressures of a domestic team, the whole weight of a country is on the shoulders of the coach when attempting to qualify for a tournament or even win one, so it is no surprise he has not leapt straight back into that side of the game. With Chelsea, he can walk away should he so decide. I think he will. (more…)

Where Next For Pep Guardiola?

Posted: January 5, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Pep responds with a well-known gesture when asked why he would want to coach Manchester City!)

The leading candidates, in no particular order, are:

Chelsea – Guus Hiddink

Having fired Jose Mourinho for being unable to get the same players to do the same things for two years running, Roman Abramovich has appointed Guus Hiddink until the end of the season.

Now, it could be that Guus does very well and gets Chelsea into the top four, wins the FA Cup, the Champions League and becomes fluent in Russian so he can tell Roman all about it. It will matter not a jot should Guardiola decide that his future lies in West London. This being the case, Hiddink will be jettisoned quicker than a human cannonball, allowing him to retire and spend his days fishing in the flatness of Holland.

Guardiola will not, however, decide that his future lies in West London.

Arsenal – Arsene Wenger

Now in his twentieth year at Arsenal, there will be some gooners who are secretly hoping that it is his last. They want him booted upstairs in some kind of director role and they would absolutely love it, Kevin Keegan-style, if he was replaced by Pep Guardiola. (more…)

What Next For Jose Mourinho?

Posted: January 1, 2016 in Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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(Jose tells the team how many players he wants on the bus!)

If it is true that Jose Mourinho wants to stay in England as a manager, he may have to set his sights a little lower than he is used to.

It would appear that his first choice of club would be Manchester United, but the noises coming from Old Trafford are not encouraging for him. If we are to believe the press then Louis van Gaal had to win one of his last two games to keep his job. He failed to do so but remains in situ at United. This says one of two things. Either the press were wrong, (perish the thought!), or United don’t have a successor lined up. If the latter is the case, then Mourinho is not in the running for the job.

Further, more recent rumblings, supposedly emanating from Old Trafford, suggest that the players would like Diego Simeone from Atletico Madrid. I am not aware that Simeone has been consulted on this matter but I suggest it may be a job he could summon up some interest in, despite his lack of English. In actual fact, having no command of English never appeared to be a problem for the likes of Mauricio Pochettino or Harry Redknapp. (more…)

What Do Arsenal, Leicester, City, United, Tottenham, Liverpool, Palace & Jose Mourinho Want For The New Year?

Posted: December 31, 2015 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Arsene Wenger

A new striker because, although Giroud is doing the business, Arsene never seems to be 100% convinced. So much so that there have been games when he has preferred Walcott in the striking role. So far this season both have done reasonably well in the position but Giroud is more consistent. It is reported that Edinson Cavani of PSG is on the radar.

Danny Welbeck to get fit so he can take his place on the bench. The same wish for Jack Wilshere, but he would get on the teamsheet rather than the bench.

Finally, an injury free second half of the season and the Premier League title.

Claudio Ranieri

Maybe a new signing or two depending on how many packets of crisps have been sold!

The success and money to be able to hold onto Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez and also an injury free second half of the season which would enable Leicester to maintain a top four challenge. (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…)

United, City: Which Manager Is Going Where?

Posted: December 20, 2015 in Football, Managers, Opinion
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Carlo Ancelotti is going to Bayern Munich where, after succeeding as usual, he will be fired as usual. He will probably win the treble but, because he is cursed, he will still be fired.

At two of his previous clubs he has a record which most managers would be proud to have. He was fired from his job as Chelsea manager having won the League and FA Cup double and, at Real Madrid, he was fired having won the Champion’s League. So he could be considered either a trifle unlucky or a loser for only winning the top trophies and none of the lesser ones.

Sympathy is not a feeling too much in evidence when it comes to highly paid football managers losing their job. Particularly when you consider that the top ones will almost certainly walk straight into another one.

So what will be the chain of events this time, I don’t hear you ask? (more…)

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