Posts Tagged ‘Old Trafford’

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…)

Jose Mourinho To Take Over At Manchester United?

Posted: February 6, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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Leicester City v Chelsea - Barclays Premier League - King Power Stadium

If it is true that Jose Mourinho’s advisors have been contacted about him taking the Manchester United job, then the appointment needs to be announced fairly quickly.

According to the Manchester Evening News, talks have been held but nothing has, as yet, been agreed. Here’s the article.

Louis van Gaal has a little bit of credit in the bank thanks to the last two wins which, in my opinion, actually say more about the players taking control than the manager.

They went out to try and prove that they are not as bad as the manager appears to want to make them look. Van Gaal’s one good decision, (if indeed it was HIS decision), was to play players in their favourite positions, particularly Juan Mata.

Anyway, back to Mourinho. Apparently his heart is set on the United job and resistance to his arrival at Old Trafford is softening. This could be due to his polite and respectful silence since he left Chelsea, which could also be seen as a display of how much he wants to be the new man at Old Trafford. It could also be, however, that his detractors have seen the lack of any success brought by their first and second choices! (more…)

Who Is The Biggest Team In Manchester? United Or City?

Posted: February 4, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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I read a rather silly article in the Daily Mail, which you may read here, if you so wish,which claims that, because Pep Guardiola has gone to Manchester City, this immediately makes them the biggest club in Manchester and, therefore, the Premier League.

Obviously written by a deluded City supporter, this claim is based on potential, nothing more.

They are certainly the wealthiest club in the division and they now probably have the best training facilities and the best youth set-up. How does any of that elevate them to the status of “biggest in the league?”

I will agree that if, over the next thirty or so years, they build their global fanbase to a size larger than that of Manchester United, which they will only do by beginning to match the on-the-pitch success of United, then they have a chance.

Manchester United have won the First Division/Premier League title on twenty occasions, the European Cup/Champion’s League on three and the FA Cup eleven times. Their Old Trafford ground has a capacity of 75,653 and is regularly full on matchdays. They claim a global fanbase of 659 million people but I am not sure that this figure has ever been ratified. (more…)

Better From Van Gaal’s Manchester United

Posted: February 2, 2016 in Football, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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(Jesse Lingard takes the plaudits for his goal although he did very little else throughout the game and was extremely lucky to stay on the pitch for the entirety without being substituted)

If this is one of van Gaal’s “match-by-match” nights then he will still be in charge at the weekend.

Manchester United players played the first half as though they thought that Pep Guardiola was coming to Old Trafford rather than the Etihad. They certainly didn’t look like the players who weren’t interested in playing for their current manager just two or three games ago.

A headed tap-in by Lingard from a cross by Borthwick-Jackson opened the scoring and this was followed twenty minutes later with Martial ending an excellent move by placing a curling shot into the top left hand corner, leaving Butland spectating with the crowd.

So at half-time United, contrary to the majority of their other games at Old Trafford, had scored two goals, normally they can’t score ONE!

Hopefully Louis wasn’t going to spoil anything during his team talk such as telling Anthony Martial that he was rubbish or that De Gea only does what he is supposed to do. (more…)

Manchester United Must React to Pep Guardiola Becoming Manager At Manchester City

Posted: February 1, 2016 in Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Manchester United simply have to react to the news that Manchester City have signed Pep Guardiola as head coach for the next three years starting in the 2016/17 season.

To muddle through with van Gaal, another old man who is, currently, nowhere near as successful as his equally geriatric counterpart at the Etihad is suicidal nonsense.

City are grabbing the bull by the horns! Manuel Pellegrini could end this season with four trophies. Remembering what happened with Jupp Heynckes at Bayern Munich, he will surely win at least three! It is very unlikely, but it is possible.

Van Gaal will be very lucky if he wins one.

City are replacing an already successful manager with another, younger one. United aren’t even considering replacing their boring, unsuccessful manager yet.

United fans are already fed up with the boring football. They move like waves between cheering a United win, then booing the next insipid performance. After years of success it is hardly surprising that the Old Trafford faithful have turned on van Gaal. They turned on Moyes as well but both were given a fair crack of the whip even if they would both deny it if asked. (more…)

Why Wayne Rooney & John Terry Don’t Need To Defend Their Managers

Posted: January 31, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Many a time, when a manager is under pressure, one of the team’s star players will decide, unwisely, that he should speak up on behalf of the beleaguered boss.

Usually it is the captain who will step forward to the microphone and recent examples have included John Terry, during the last few games of Jose Mourinho’s reign at Chelsea and Wayne Rooney at Manchester United.

The reason it is not necessarily the brightest move to make is because it puts even more pressure on the manager.

The captains in question no doubt feel that they are doing the manager a service by voicing their opinion that the players “are the ones who go out onto the pitch”, and that “the manager can only pick the team, he can’t play the game”, but, in fact, the reverse is true.

Yes the manager picks the team so, it can be argued, he isn’t doing so very well if they keep losing! Also, the captain is indirectly admitting that the players aren’t performing for this manager. So surely it would be better to keep mum and get on with trying to help the manager with the performances ON the pitch rather than OFF it. (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…)

Van Gaal And United Get It Right On The Night

Posted: January 29, 2016 in Manchester United, Opinion, The FA Cup
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(United’s other scorer, Daley Blind, would have been in this photo but he was out of position!)

Yet another “last game in charge” passes by for Louis van Gaal and he still remains in the Old Trafford hotseat! Mind you, if he doesn’t get sacked after losing games at home he is hardly likely to be removed after a 3-1 win away in the FA Cup.

It is reaching the stage now where nobody knows what he has to do to lose this job. Maybe wear a David Moyes mask, as he managed to lose the job with a better record than the Dutchman! Tonight though, was not going to be the last time the Dutchman was sat in the Manchester United dugout.

Having surrendered places in the Champion’s League, the Capital One Cup and the top four of the Premier League, United, at this precise moment in time, only have the Europa League and FA Cup left to play for. So both take on added importance, particularly as the Europa League winners will be granted entry into the Champion’s League next season. Having said that, the United faithful will take a trophy of any description at present!

Before the game Louis van Gaal had said that he hoped that the players would take their form and confidence from the training ground into the match. The problem with training is that it tends to be concentrated on the next opponents so in this case that would have been Derby County. (more…)

Manchester United’s Problems Begin And End With Ed Woodward, They Just Include Van Gaal

Posted: January 24, 2016 in Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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It has reached the stage, at Old Trafford, where Ed Woodward has to put aside his pride.

Having employed David Moyes who, seven months into his reign, was deemed a failure then surely, eighteen months into his reign and with an inferior record, van Gaal must also be deemed a failure.

Up to now, van Gaal has had eleven months longer than Moyes in the job and roughly ÂŁ200 million more to spend. Yet his record is worse. Why is he still there?

It has to be an over simplification to think that Woodward’s pride has anything to do with it, yet what is the alternative? It is understandable that he does not want to sack another one of his appointments, it wouldn’t make him look good with his bosses. Yet these are the bosses who put him in charge of football matters so this is also THEIR mistake. He has to do what is right for the club, not what is right for his ego.

Ed woodward is very successful in marketing. He has brought millions into the Old Trafford bank account through sponsorship deals with many multi-national companies around the world. He was responsible for the ÂŁ750 million deal with Adidas. So his value, in that respect, should not be underestimated.

Where it started to go wrong was when the Glazers assumed, wrongly, that Woodward knew anything about the game. (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…)

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