Now that Ole’s underwhelming three years as United manager have, thankfully, finally been brought to a close the search is on for an interim manager.
It’s to be hoped this search is concluded very quickly as the alternative is quite frightening. On Tuesday night the team to play Villareal will be selected, as will the tactics & the substitutes, by the very ‘coaching’ staff who have done very little, if anything, to keep their former boss in a job.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjær is not an Old Trafford legend in the true sense of the word. He is not up there with Duncan Edwards, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law. He is remembered, primarily, as the substitute who came on and scored the winning goal in the 1999 Champion’s League final.
He scored many other goals during his Manchester United career with the vast majority of them being scored as a substitute. In other words, he wasn’t considered good enough to start for the first team on a regular basis. This alone prevents him from being a fully-fledged legend. (more…)
Yaya Touré played his 316th game for Manchester City in what was a historic occasion both for him and, as it turned out, for the club.
City won the game against Brighton 3-1 and in so doing set a new record for points achieved – 97, goals scored – 105 and wins in a season – 31. These figures will probably change again when they play Southampton in the last game of the season but this is the one where the records were made. (more…)
As football matches go, testimonials are slightly more important than a school playground kick-about. Usually a way of shovelling further riches on a footballer who’s only contribution has been hanging around a club for ten years or more, either because he hasn’t wanted to go anywhere else or because nobody else has wanted him. They are another example of a profession further rewarding it’s already over rewarded employees.
Testimonials were originally intended to provide for a player in his retirement. So, for example, quite a few players used the money to buy a pub so they could spend their dotage in the same place as they spent most of their career. Nowadays the top players could buy a pub every week so the testimonial is nothing more than a circus. It’s a circus which raises money for charity, but it is a circus all the same. (more…)
According to reports in the popular press, (does that mean the Sun and the Star?), José Mourinho has been so impressed with whoever plays in defence that he no longer feels the need to splash the cash on a new defender.
José Fonte may have asked for a transfer from Southampton in the vain hope that it would result in a move to Old Trafford but it isn’t going to happen. He may still get to play for a club with more to offer than the Saints, but it won’t be United. (more…)
For the last few seasons Manchester United have lacked passion. They have lacked passion from the manager and they have lacked passion from the players. Only now, under José Mourinho, are they starting to show a little of the old commitment and desire.
David Moyes may have been a fiery Scot but he was overawed by the players at Manchester United because they had won much more than he had and there was little, if anything, he could teach them. (more…)
At the beginning of the season there was belief. Belief that Manchester United were on the way back to being good at football.
They started off like an express train and were unstoppable until they were stopped. Unfortunately they were stopped by another unstoppable team at the time when Manchester City beat them at Old Trafford. City were to go on being unstoppable until they were stopped by Tottenham Hotspur who, whilst not being unstoppable, haven’t really been stopped by anybody yet, (unless you count a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford as stopping them). (more…)
1. Finish in the top four at least
If, by the end of this season, Manchester United have finished in the top four then this would have to be perceived as more successful than last season.
Failure to even get in a position where pre-qualification was necessary for the Champion’s League was the final nail in the coffin of Louis Van Gaal. The previous couple of nails had been the boring football and the fact that his popularity with the fans had sunk lower than a snake’s belly. (more…)
The biggest hurdle standing between José Mourinho and a first Premier League title with Manchester United is the quality of his squad. Despite the additions of Paul Pogba, Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mikhitaryan and old man Ibrahimović there are still far too many players who would not get into some of the other top teams.
Starting at the back and the addition of Eric Bailly does not make the United defence watertight. Shaw is fine and will improve with age whereas the other full back position is a problem. (more…)
If Jose Mourinho’s quest while in charge of Manchester United is to continue with the style and selection so detested under Louis van Gaal, then he is going the right way about it. Unfortunately, his tenure will have a similar ending if he carries on in this vein.
With Ibrahimovich on the bench, Pogba and Bailly rested, and Mhkitaryan injured this even had the look of a van Gaal team! (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 