Posts Tagged ‘Old Trafford’

Five Jose Mourinho “Targets” Who Have Impressed, (Or Not), At The Euros

Posted: June 27, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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Starting with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who looks pretty nailed on to arrive at Old Trafford in the very near future. His purchase will sell a lot of shirts and will certainly please some sponsors but is it a good deal? Judging by the way he has totally underwhelmed at the Euros the answer has to be “No”. Also, at 34, he is not in the age group of players a club like United should be signing.

Scoring a lot of goals in the French league is not too difficult a task for a decent striker. Defences are not even Championship level and the margin by which PSG won the title should warn any potential suitors of players that they may not be as good as the league makes them look.

Chances of being a success at United: 4/10 (more…)

Jose Mourinho Has More Money To Spend Than Donald Trump!

Posted: June 25, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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He must have, you only need to read the amount of players he is going to buy and look at the total cost.

All this talk of United giving him a kitty of ÂŁ250 million to spend on transfers is obviously a smokescreen so that clubs are not aware of how much is really available.

Ed seems to have learnt his lesson! Gone are the days when he would brag that United could afford any player in the world because money is no object. Maybe he realised, shortly after making his stupid statement, that any player in whom United expressed an interest suddenly experienced a sharp hike in price. When you add that to the fact that, thanks to Ed’s propensity for dithering, they also paid ÂŁ4 million more for Fellaini than they needed to, then it is understandable that their budget is being kept a closely guarded secret and that a completely false figure has been circulated. Only the really intrepid football journalists have figured out the truth.

So, following the arrival of Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will come riding into town on his white horse. (more…)

Fanpower Sacks Van Gaal And Appoints Mourinho. Or Does It?

Posted: May 23, 2016 in Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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Louis van Gaal is finally gone. After two years of boring, monotonous, sideways-backwards and sleep inducing football, he has finally been invited to do one to his villa in Portugal where he can send his family to sleep with tales of his tactical brilliance whilst managing to win one trophy during his time at Old Trafford.

Has fanpower finally managed to dethrone the king? It is highly unlikely that this was the main reason, although it will have come into the thought process. In fairness, if the fans had managed to get their way then van Gaal would have been gone before Christmas.

United have made exactly the same mistake with van Gaal as they did with Moyes which was leaving him in charge until it was mathematically impossible to qualify for the Champion’s League. In both instances a replacement should have been given the opportunity much earlier.

It is hard to understand why both managers were given as long as they were when both tenures ended in relative failure and that outcome was an obvious one from very early in both campaigns. (more…)

When Jose Mourinho Arrives, Woodward Needs To Go!

Posted: May 22, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Challenging at the sharp end of the Champion’s League. Challenging for the Premier League title. Mounting serious attempts at both the FA Cup and Capital One Cup.

These are all answers to the question, “Where would you expect Manchester United to be this season?”

These answers would probably have been a lot closer to the truth had Ed Woodward had the courage to sack Louis van Gaal when it became apparent, to everybody except Woodward, that United’s season was actually going nowhere and that a replacement was required.

This became the case reasonably early in the season. United were out of the Capital One Cup almost as soon as entering it and the Premier League challenge was faltering virtually from day one. Elimination from the Champion’s League at the group stage just heaped more humiliation on a once great club.

Now was the time for Ed Woodward to stand up and be counted. To be a hero in the eyes of the United fans he needed to get rid of van Gaal. What he didn’t need to do was dither. Ed had proven himself remarkably good at dithering. (more…)

Manchester United Should Recruit Leicester’s Recruiter!

Posted: May 1, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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The last time I was present at a Manchester United versus Leicester City game at Old Trafford was on March 18th, 1967. I have been to Old Trafford many, many times before and since but only ever once when they played Leicester. The game sticks in the mind for two reasons. The first is David Herd scoring the first goal and breaking his leg in the process when falling over Gordon Banks whilst in the act of shooting. The second is the scoreline of 5-2 to United.

Back then, Leicester didn’t have a bad team, it just wasn’t very good. Now the situations have been completely reversed. At the moment United don’t have a bad team, it just isn’t very good. An example of how far down in the estimation of even ex-players the club has gone was typified recently by Denis Law. He was asked if he thought his team of the sixties would beat the current one. He thought for a moment and replied, “yes, I think so, 1-0.” When the interviewer wondered why such a low score Law replied, “well, we’re all in our seventies now!”

The difficulty for the majority of the United fans, particularly those who comment on popular social networking sites, is that they do not possess a sense of humour. It is also true that many of them have never even been to Old Trafford.   (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…)

How Can Manchester United Even Contemplate Keeping Louis Van Gaal When Jose Mourinho Is Available?

Posted: March 6, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Recently I have been reading that the last three results have turned Louis van Gaal into such a good manager that Manchester United couldn’t bear to see him leave at the end of the season and would like him to stay on for his contracted final year.

The last three results have been the Europa League win over FC Midtjylland, who would just about survive the first division in England, followed by a good 3-2 win over Arsenal, who were abysmal and ending in a very fortuitous 1-0 win over Watford, a game in which they were lucky Watford didn’t score three.

With the exception of the Arsenal game, the other two again papered over the cracks and certainly made van Gaal look a lot better than he really is. The problem when this happens is that some people actually believe he is good, only for a short while, but long enough for the damage to be done.

Louis van Gaal has, basically, had his day. He cannot live with the modern game, particularly in the Premier League where he has never managed before. He is far too arrogant to admit it and prefers to rely completely on excuses when his team loses. (more…)

Jose Mourinho Doesn’t Want The Manchester United Job Now

Posted: February 24, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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The latest from the gutter press appears to be that Jose Mourinho doesn’t want the Manchester United job! Not until June anyway. That means that whatever happens between now and the end of the season can be blamed on van Gaal and van Gaal alone!

Could be a smart move, Jose and, then again, maybe not. What happens if United win the FA Cup and the Europa League? Remember that the team have now returned to winning ways and have just beaten a team sixty places below them who are struggling against relegation. According to Louis this was “fantastic”.

It does seem, unfortunately, that barring relegation and all the players handing in transfer requests, van Gaal will be there until the end of the season. Nobody appears to want to be called the “interim manager”.

There is also the Ed Woodward factor. He would be stupid enough to insist that van Gaal saw out his contract if he was given the slightest excuse and winning a trophy or two would pass for the slightest excuse. (more…)

The Truth Behind The Headlines About Jose Mourinho To Manchester United

Posted: February 22, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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It’s a done deal! There is a gentleman’s agreement! Jose Mourinho agrees to become Manchester United’s next manager! Mourinho will take over this season! Mourinho will take over next season! Van Gaal has three games to save his job! Mourinho will take over in February! Van Gaal has two games to save his job! If van Gaal loses the next game he will be fired!

These are just some of the headlines I have been reading in the last few days. It is hardly any wonder that the great British football fan is dazed and confused as far as the goings-on at Old Trafford are concerned.

In actual fact, as far as I am aware, nothing has been agreed, certainly nothing has been signed and Mourinho won’t be taking over in the next couple of days.

What is disappointing in this whole sordid affair is that van Gaal is still in place. Ed Woodward either doesn’t have the guts to sack him, in which case HE is in the wrong job, which he most definitely is, or he thinks that he will lose face by sacking him, which is the more likely answer. (more…)

Mauricio Pochettino Or Jose Mourinho To Manchester United

Posted: February 20, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Recently, the candidates to be the next manager of Manchester United came down to just two. One who is out of work and one who isn’t.

United can’t be as choosy as they once could because the majority of top managers wouldn’t leave their current club to go to Old Trafford. Not that they have any history of taking a top manager from another club, it hasn’t been in their nature in the past.

At first glance, a straight fight between Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho should only produce one winner, the one who is used to winning. Mourinho ticks the majority of boxes required to be a United manager.

He is a serial winner, he can produce entertaining football when he wants to, he wins trophies quite quickly, usually in the first or second season at a club.

There are, however, boxes he doesn’t tick and it is these which makes the likes of Sirs Bobby Charlton and Alex Ferguson vote against his appointment. (more…)

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