Posts Tagged ‘Mesut Ozil’

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So the board at Manchester United which, effectively, appears to be Ed Woodward, have decided to reward Anthony Martial’s poor performances, petulance and disobedience by offering him a new contract until 2023 with the usual raise in pay.

This is despite manager José Mourinho wishing to sell him and the player expressing a desire to leave the club.

Either Ed Woodward himself or the Glazers seem to have bestowed upon the diminutive marketing man from Chelmsford, a power of attorney which gives him the final say over everything at the club. He has proven on several occasions that his knowledge of football is, at best, dodgy, when he has preferred to look at transfer targets with a high marketing value rather than their potential benefit to the team. (more…)

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Mesut Özil has retired from international football. Not for the usual reasons of being too old, or too slow or even too good. No, he has retired because he feels disrespected after racist comments were made about him following his being photographed alongside the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

What did he expect? Whilst we deplore all racism there was bound to be some reaction to such a thoughtless action.

Erdoğan is head of the oppressive government which has been accused of human rights abuses as well as being outspoken about German politics. (more…)

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So José Mourinho has signed his new contract. He has put to bed all the rumours, mainly started by himself, of leaving for Paris or anywhere else for the next couple of years at least.

Unless, of course, he finds something to fall out about. If Ed Woodward fails to sign a player he wants, or sells a player he wants. If it rains too much. If certain other managers in the Premier League upset him. If a player or players at United don’t do as he says. If he gets fed up living in a 5* hotel costing more than £800 per night. If room service doesn’t deliver his breakfast quickly enough, etc., etc. (more…)

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Pep Responds To The Mind Games After The Event

Pep Guardiola has decided that his team do not commit “tactical fouls”. He was accused of said shenanigans by José Mourinho, (who else?), in the build-up to the Manchester derby which, of course, City won 1-2 not only without committing any noticeable trips or pull-backs but also without much diving, another Mourinho suggestion which failed to hold much water.

In fact, the only player who was booked for diving was United’s Ander Herrera in what the referee deemed was an unfair attempt to win a penalty. (more…)

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The quick response to the above question is that they don’t! However, if that were all we had to say on the matter then this would be the shortest article we have ever unleashed on our long-suffering readership.

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Pep Guardiola has already revealed his secret to keeping everyone in check and on board with his way of thinking. He doesn’t care! As he has said in the past, if they do as they are told he has no problem with them. If they aren’t happy about not being in the team than that isn’t his problem, it’s their’s!

Despite this stand-offish, (and correct), approach to management, Guardiola has few, if any, players who are actively seeking a transfer from the club. (more…)

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Manchester United lie second in the Premier League, but eight points off Manchester City who, at present, are running away with it.

City, even with a couple of injuries to senior players don’t appear to have anybody who could be said to be letting the side down and Eliaquim Managala and Fabian Delph, when called upon, have performed admirably. The same cannot be said about some of the other teams.

United, for example, persisted with Henrikh Mkhitaryan for about two games more than they should have done. He “went missing” as José Mourinho would say, in a couple of games before being dropped and was guilty of losing possession almost every time he had it! (more…)

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Regular readers could be forgiven for thinking that this has to be the easiest question we have ever posed. Why? Because it has to be the Manchester City midfield based purely on the fact that they have scored more goals than anyone else, and by quite a distance.

Whilst there is an element of truth to this argument, the City midfielders are assisted by the fact that they are currently the best team in the league and also that most of the chances they are creating are being converted into goals, which is a testament to how good their strikers are. (more…)

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When Mesut Özil was first recognised as a very good player he was with Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. He was also part of the successful German national team which beat England in the game where Frank Lampard had a goal disallowed when the referee, in a moment of instant sight loss, decided that the ball, which was two feet over the line, hadn’t crossed the line!

This was in 2010 and, in that same year, Özil agreed a move to Real Madrid.

There was a story at the time that Sir Alex Ferguson went down to London to try and sign him but the deal with Madrid had already been agreed. (more…)

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Well, it’s that time of year again! The football season is over and now we look forward to some World Cup qualifiers.

At least we won’t be whingeing and whining quite as much as we do when the “real” football is interrupted by these international fixtures. No, now we tend to grab at them, as a drowning man would grab at a lifebelt. We even watch the occasional friendly without so much as a murmur of complaint. (more…)

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It’s official! Arsenal are no longer a selling club. Having seen the likes of Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and even Mikel Arteta head to Manchester, Arsene Wenger has now drawn a line under this whole sorry episode in the history of the Gunners.

Never again will Arsenal refuse to pay the going rate for a player, no longer will salary be an issue when talking to the world’s elite. Arsenal have come of age. They are now happily settled into the Emirates and, apart from not being very successful, they have no real worries, not of the fiscal kind anyway. (more…)