The squad strengths are similar. The fame and reputations of the two managers are similar. In fact, there are so many similarities between the two teams this season that it is very difficult to say that one is better than the other and even more difficult to say which one that is.
Manchester City have a world class goalkeeper prone to the occasional mistake. United also have a world class goalkeeper who makes less mistakes so United have the edge here. (more…)
So, failing to qualify for the Champion’s League is not the disaster that all the “experts” predicted it would be. In fact it appears to have had little or no impact on the two main “failures” in England. These are the two teams who contested the final only eight years ago in Moscow! The ability of Manchester United and Chelsea to sign top players and managers does not appear to have been diminished at all.
It is probably true to say that a prolonged absence from the competition would begin to have a negative effect at some stage as a considerable amount of money can be made by appearing in Europe’s top competition. The loss of this money over a sustained period would prove harmful to the clubs trying to attract the best players and, by doing so, make qualifying again the following year a more difficult proposition. In this respect it is a vicious circle. (more…)
In the not too distant past the top clubs in Europe were the ones with the most money. This, to an extent, is still true today but the main difference is that a lot more clubs have the most money than previously.
Thinking back fifteen or twenty years ago there were the usual suspects in Real Madrid and Barcelona from Spain. Bayern Munich, at the time, were usually Germany’s sole representatives in the latter stages of any competition. Arsenal and Manchester United used to fight for the Premier League in England and the Milan clubs and Juventus usually offered Italian resistance. (more…)
(Bournemouth through the ages)
Having been promoted to the Premier League for the start of last season Bournemouth, who are sponsored by the Mansion Group, the company also responsible for the sponsorship of Crystal Palace football team and many other brands and boasting, as part of it’s large group, Mansion Casino, began as though they yearned for a return to the shallower water that is the Championship.
However, their manager Eddie Howe, was having none of it. He managed to turn things around and they finished their first ever season in the top flight with a very creditable 16th place, (any finish above 18th in your first season is creditable).
Buoyed by this relative success they set their sights on a pre-season tour to the USA in another diversion from the norm. (more…)
The jury is out on this one!
There are obvious reasons to expect that Pep will be successful at City, not
least given that he is working with people he knows well at the club. This is an obvious advantage from when he took over at Bayern Munich where he knew nobody really well in the beginning.
He also doesn’t have to win much next season to be rated a success. Manuel Pellegrini left having won only the Capital One Cup in his final year.
At Bayern the odds were against him even replicating what Jupp Heynckes had achieved, never mind bettering it. A treble of the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champion’s League was always going to be a tall order. As it turned out he found winning the Bundesliga and German Cup relatively easy and only the Champion’s League proved elusive. (more…)
(Louis hides behind his folder and hopes nobody will see him)
Louis van Gaal has stated that facts prove the team this year is better than the team last year.
I won’t go down the road of disputing facts, there can only be one winner there. Whether or not they prove that the team is better than last year is debatable, circumstances have certainly been different.
Yes they went further in the Capital One Cup than they did but I would hardly call defeat AT HOME, to a Championship team, an improvement, not when nearly £300 million has been spent. Maybe an improvement having spent that amount of money would be winning it!
As they weren’t in the Champions League last year then yes, that has been an improvement, obviously. So lets compare with the year before that. David Moyes took United to the quarter finals having spent about £28 million. (more…)
Manchester United show no sign of relenting in their quest to both concede and score as few goals as possible this season.
In their game against West Bromwich Albion, they appeared to be quite happy to accept another 1-0 victory, secured by Jesse Lingard when taking the team’s second shot at goal. The first had been by Anthony Martial who, from a promising position, had shot straight into the arms of Myhill.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon your point of view, Martial was tripped in the penalty area, not long afterwards, by McAuley when through on goal and, as he only had the goalkeeper to beat, McAuley was dismissed. This gave Juan Mata the chance to score from the spot, which he duly did, unlike three England internationals in a previous match. (more…)
Even at this early stage, it looks as though Manchester City are the best bet for the Premier League title.
Having bought Kevin De Bruyne, an excellent player they don’t really need, along with Sterling and Otamendi, they will have, in my opinion, the best team and squad in the top division.
Who will be the fall guy for De Bruyne? Well, they won’t drop Silva or Toure and, at present, Sterling is their record signing, so he looks safe. It looks like it’s going to be bench warming time for Jesus Navas.
In fairness I haven’t seen Navas contributing a lot up to now. In fact, when he has come on, Samir Nasri has looked a lot better than Navas. Navas also seems to unbalance the team slightly because he only wants to play on the right wing and rarely strays from that position, whereas Sterling, Silva, Nasri and De Bruyne can all interchange and play anywhere across the three. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 