Posts Tagged ‘PSG’

No Game For Old Men?

Posted: January 11, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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It is certainly looking that way.

Look at the top teams in Europe outside of the Premier League. Real Madrid now have Zinedine Zidane who, at 43, has just taken over the managerial role. They are, arguably, the biggest team in the world. Whether or not he is successful remains to be seen but it appears that Madrid have taken a leaf from Barcelona’s book by promoting from within.

Luis Enrique is the man in charge of Barcelona. At 45, he is already very successful and, with the team he currently manages, there is no reason to think that the success will dry up anytime soon.

There are now three teams in Spain of course, the third being Atletico Madrid, managed by 45 year-old Diego Simeone. Since his appointment Atletico have seriously challenged the dominance of the big two in a similar way to when a young Alex Ferguson was given the job of breaking the Celtic/Rangers monopoly when he was appointed as manager of Aberdeen. He also got the United job at 45 and the rest is history. (more…)

Will Eden Hazard Still Be At Chelsea Next Season?

Posted: January 8, 2016 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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The answer to the above question is looking more and more likely to be “no”.

Having, apparently, fallen out with Jose Mourinho, this feeling now appears to have spread to the rest of the club. What has happened to a player who, only last season, was being placed behind only Messi and Ronlado in the world’s best players list?

We know that under Mourinho he was sometimes played out of his favourite position. We also know that he was expected to carry out defensive duties by tracking back and not letting the opposition wing backs have a free run. What we also know is that he didn’t like that side of the game.

Ideally, Hazard would play for a team whereby he was told to stick himself around the halfway line and wait until the hard working defenders managed to get the ball to him. Then he would be able to do what he does best, whether that be run at the defence through the middle, or on either wing.

It is unlikely that he will get his wish under Hiddink, who is also a bit of a taskmaster and expects his players to work hard for the ball. Whether or not Hazard sticks around to see if there will be a change of manager in the Summer is anybody’s guess but, at the moment, he is not of that mind. (more…)

Cristiano Ronaldo To Manchester United?

Posted: November 22, 2015 in European Football, Football, Managers, Opinion
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Cristiano Ronaldo decided, at the age of 24, that he wanted to go to Real Madrid. The reasons for this decision are reasonably well documented. It wasn’t for the money. Even at 24 United would have matched anything Madrid offered if they had been given any encouragement that he would stay at Old Trafford.

Being Portuguese and having already played in Portugal, the biggest clubs for those players are usually Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is a return to Iberia, the culture they are used to, the weather, the food, everything that is, to them, home.

Luis Figo was another world famous Portuguese who actually had the distinction of playing for both Barcelona and Real Madrid. So it is certainly not an uncommon desire for these players to want to ply their trade in Spain at some stage. (more…)

Angel Sneaks Off To Paris

Posted: August 7, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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It seems that, whenever Angel Di Maria does anything controversial, it always involves a third party and it is usually their fault.

When he left Real Madrid he felt the need to make excuses so he wouldn’t be globally detested by the supporters of los Blancos. He had been there for four years so the fans, by this time, would know whether they thought he was good, bad or just plain ugly.

This is a sentence from his open letter to them;
‘Unfortunately, I have to go but I want to make clear that this was never my desire.’ (more…)

This Is Goodbye, Not Just Adios

Posted: July 26, 2015 in Manchester United
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Just before this time last year I was imploring Manchester United not to buy Angel Di Maria. I was reading every newspaper online as well as all the other publications I could find that were headlining that United were interested. I posted my disagreement on every one of them where comments were allowed.

I based my opposition to his purchase on a couple of things. Firstly, I live in Spain so I had seen quite a lot of him. Real Madrid, as you can imagine, is quite a popular team over here. What I had seen was nothing more than average. I had seen him cut in from the right and score a couple of decent goals with his left foot and had seen a couple of decent dribbles where he had actually beaten a player or two then put a decent cross in. Nothing to show me, (or any watching United scouts I would have thought), that he was world class and worth a fee in the region of ÂŁ60 million. (more…)

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