The same may possibly be said about Antonio Conte but, as yet, we don’t know enough about him or his motives to put forward a case one way or the other.
Other older managers such as Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Robson and even, to a lesser extent, Manuel Pelligrini, Louis van Gaal and Claudio Ranieri took jobs at clubs where there was a challenge. (more…)
After three games the top three in the Premier League had an air of predictability about it. José Mourinho had taken over at Manchester United, Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Antonio Conte at Chelsea. All three, at this stage, had 100% records.
Arsene Wenger soldiered on at Arsenal starting with his annual first game of the season loss at home. JĂĽrgen Klopp continued in his manic way while, over the park, Ronald Koeman quietly got on with things leaving the other “bigger name” managers at the “bigger clubs” to hog the limelight. (more…)
In the first two or three weeks of the Mourinho reign at Manchester United it became fairly obvious that the leopard was trying to change some, if not all, of his spots.
He and the players were seen arriving at games in the standard issue club blazer and tie. He even managed to fasten the top button on his shirt. (more…)
Manchester City have once again been told that they are in the “Group of Death”. This should come as no surprise to either the supporters or to anybody connected with the club. Manchester City always get drawn in the “Group of Death”.
The problem here is the inferiority complex which could develop through this attitude. Why is this the toughest group from which to qualify just because it contains Barcelona? Over two games I would expect City to take at least one point from Messi and co. This leaves Borussia Mönchengladbach and Celtic. From these four games I would expect at least eight points which would give them a total of nine, more than likely enough to see them through in second place. (more…)
The first thing we learnt was that José Mourinho, by his own admission, started with the wrong selection of at least two players.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan had been sent home from the Armenian squad due to an injury picked up in their first game. It was patently obvious that the derby game against Manchester City was too soon after the injury and that he hadn’t recovered sufficiently to be effective. This was shown in his sluggish first half performance which resulted in him being replaced for the second half. (more…)
So that’s it then. It’s all over until the next time and people are beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about.
At this stage it is probably worth mentioning that, in order to make sense, this article is better when read after the previous one which can be found here.
The draw was the widely predicted result and so it came as a surprise when City emerged victorious. This situation, though, is hardly critical for United at this early stage of the season. (more…)
Will there be a feast of goals? Will there be any goals? How many players will still be on the pitch by the end of the game? How many managers will still be pitch-side by the end of the game? Which team’s fans will be leaving early? Who will have a great game and who won’t?
As per usual the derby game, like a lot of less well publicised games, throws up a lot of questions. By the end of today’s game we will have the answers to all of the above. It is far more interesting, however, to speculate as to what those answers may be before the game than it is to pretend that we knew those answers after the game. (more…)
It is highly unlikely that this one game will decide who wins the Premier League. It is also highly unlikely that the fate of either manager will be decided by the result of this one game. So why all the hype? Well, one reason is because Sky Sports have found out when and where the game is to be played.
Despite the two clubs trying to keep the timing and whereabouts of the match a closely guarded secret shared only between a few million fans and the two teams, it was discovered that a mole had leaked the information to Sky. The mole has since been bodily removed from Manchester and sentenced to support Arsenal for the rest of his miserable life. (more…)
Manchester City, played three, won three. Manchester United, played three, won three. Chelsea, played three, won three. Arsenal, played three, won one, drawn one, lost one.
So why have the new kids on the block started so well and yet Arsenal, with their wily old manager, have started off in what has become their usual manner? (more…)
Yes folks, it’s that time of the season again. Football journalists have barely had time to get settled back into their routine when the Premier League fixture list throws up a big game.
Starved of meaningful matches to report on and, shock horror, having to give Sam Allardyce a reasonable press because England won, in a competitive game, away from home, it is time to return to what they do worst. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 