Roy Keane thinks that, if he’s not careful, Ole Gunnar Solskjær will be thrown under the bus by the players. Why does he say that? If he’s right then there are only really two reasons for this to happen.
The first is that the players don’t like Solskjær and want him gone. This is unlikely as the Norwegian comes across as a very likeable person which, in fact, is one of his problems.
After losing at home to Arsenal then away to Basaksehir Manchester United went on to record four wins on the bounce with victories over Everton away, Basaksehir at home, West Bromwich Albion at home and Southampton away.
Performance-wise there were ups and downs. For example, the defeat to Arsenal was poor and the defeat in Istanbul even poorer. The Everton win showed spirit and a determination which had seemed missing in the previous two games but then it was back to a poor showing against West Brom which at least resulted in a win this time.
The Southampton game, apart from a twenty minutes spell when the hosts scored two goals, was an example of how well they can play and how good a player Edinson Cavani is.
But with all these inconsistencies, can United challenge for any of the trophies this season?
(more…)
How is a fat football agent getting so much publicity? Mino Raiola is “acting on behalf of” Paul Pogba so, when he decides to insult Paul Scholes on social media, it is actually Pogba doing the insulting.
Now we know that isn’t the case and that the French player probably numbers Scholes amongst his favourite midfielders of all time. So why does he insist on continuing to employ an arrogant, obnoxious, fat and, admittedly rich, (which we had to include otherwise Bernard Manning would be spinning), so-and-so who, when he isn’t trying to extort as much money as possible from his clients and football clubs, is busy telling everybody else what to do. (more…)
Premier League title winning is something Jose Mourinho knows all about. It is also something Sir Alex Ferguson knows all about. The common denominator between the two is Manchester United. So how come one of the most expensive squads in the world is struggling to get into the top four?
The answer to the question is very simple even if the solution to the problem isn’t quite so straightforward. They are struggling due to an inability to score goals.
This inability has resulted in too many drawn games which should have been comfortable victories. (more…)
(Wayne Rooney looks over his shoulder only to find that the manager insists on him playing!)
Recently, one or two football players have remarked that they have “nothing to prove”. They say this as though they have reached a pinnacle and will never drop their standards below this optimum level.
Marouane Fellaini was one of the ones to speak out and that, frankly, was laughable. Now it’s the turn of Wayne Rooney again. Yes, again! It seems that Wayne likes to tell everybody how good he really is on a fairly regular basis. (more…)
(Mata keeps his distance while Rooney, as usual, creeps up to the boss)
This is a perfectly reasonable question and yet the answer, for some unknown reason, appears to be quite complicated.
Certainly, over the last couple of years Juan Mata has contributed much, much more to the team than has Rooney. He is not a volatile character and represents the club in a much more positive and favourable way than Rooney.
Last season, for example, Mata made 49 appearances and scored 10 goals whereas Rooney made 38 appearances and scored 15 goals. Mata was also responsible for assisting many more goals than Rooney. (more…)
According to Wayne Rooney he is extra motivated by the fact that Jose Mourinho is now the manager of Manchester United.
This means, by definition, that he didn’t give 100% when Louis “the loser” van Gaal was in charge. Logically “extra motivation” can only take him to a maximum of 100% as nobody has more than that to give, despite all the pundits who think some players give 150% or more!
So, if he didn’t try as hard as he might have done under van Gaal, yet he was extra motivated by being given the captaincy, where does this put his level under Moyes and, previously, under Ferguson? Again, by a process of deduction, he was only giving about 50%. (more…)
When the teams were announced before the game and James Milner was going to be playing at left back for Liverpool, myself and Paul Scholes both thought the same thing: play Martial on the right to have a run at him.
What did van Gaal do? Played Mata on the right! Apart from being slow, very left-footed and useless as a winger this was a stupid move. He also played Lingard, who should be dropped, on the left and he looked completely clueless.
Another stupid move was playing Varela at right back when he has the Italian right back sat on the bench. Darmian has nineteen caps for Italy so surely he is good enough for this Manchester United team!
Fellaini was retained in midfield for no apparent reason and huffed and puffed without ever achieving anything. (more…)
(Scholesy reacts to the news that, according to one expert, everything negative about United is his fault!)
Does the madness of King Louis show no sign of abating? Fresh from blaming his players for not rewarding themselves in the draw against Chelsea, he now blames Paul Scholes for anything negative in the camp, or on the bus, or in the dressing room.
The article explaining all this is in the Daily Telegraph and can be found here.
In a game where United looked reasonably comfortable until HE changed the shape and brought on three subs, which automatically gave the initiative to Chelsea, the end result should have been a 0-1 to the Reds. HE messed it up and then set about blaming the players for not following his instructions and giving the ball away and not defending properly.
He was right about losing possession and not defending but these were the players HE had picked, HE had trained all week and HE had become acquainted with over the last eighteen months. If he still does not know what they are going to do in a game, after all this time, then it is definitely Mourinho time. (more…)
Manchester United have given Louis van Gaal more than enough rope to hang himself. In fact, they have given him sufficient to ensure that his feet are able to reach the floor.
According to the Guardian’s Jamie Jackson, Louis van Gaal’s performance as a manager is to be reviewed on a match-by-match basis. The article is here, if you wish to read it.
Yesterday I wrote about the fact that the Manchester United Circus is being run by the head clown. Today, I wish to revise that opinion. It is now a pantomime being run by the Dame. How else can this ludicrous decision be explained?
Van Gaal’s record speaks for itself in it’s level of failure. Even van Gaal himself has finally admitted that he is failing and doesn’t know what to do.
If the press is to be believed he has offered to resign at least once, an offer which should have been welcomed by United, because it may not come again. A resignation would have meant that United didn’t have to pay the remainder of van Gaal’s contract which the, now inevitable, sacking or mutual termination means they will.
Still, for a man who has managed to waste the millions that Woodward has managed to waste over the last three years, this is only a minor detail. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 