Posts Tagged ‘Real Madrid’

Jose Mourinho & Chelsea: The Odd Couple

Posted: December 17, 2015 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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(Jose waves goodbye to Chelsea again, probably for the last time, but who really knows?)

For a while it was a match made in heaven. Jose and Chelsea had a passionate marriage which lasted three years and only ended in divorce when the bubble appeared to have burst and the passion went out of it.

After a short separation, Mourinho and Chelsea realised that they could no longer live without each other and decided to give it another go. The passion returned for a short while and everything was fine for a short while. The problem is that “short while” has come to define the marriages between Mourinho and Chelsea.

Now he has gone, probably for good, because of the vow “for better or worse” in the wedding ceremony. To Jose’s way of thinking this meant that the “better” bit was for him and the “worse” bit was for Chelsea and everybody else. In other words he was quite happy to take all the praise when winning, but turned into a spoiled brat when losing.

The final straw, in my humble opinion, was when he turned on his own players after the Leicester City game, which Chelsea lost 2-1. (more…)

Manchester City Rely On Sevilla

Posted: December 7, 2015 in Champions League, Football, Manchester City, Opinion
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Manchester City have a European tie on Tuesday night that may allow them to achieve what would be a “first” for them.

If they beat Borussia Moenchengladbach and Juventus fail to beat Sevilla, then City will qualify for the next round as group winners. This will be the first time they have achieved that in their Champions League history, following a failure to qualify and two second placed qualifications.

The more likely scenario is that Juventus will beat Sevilla, THEY will qualify as group winners and City will finish second again. All of which means that, in the first knockout round, City could face Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. They could be lucky and get a team which won one of the lesser groups but that would still potentially put them up against the likes of Zenit St. Petersburg, Porto or Atletico Madrid.

At the moment it is all rather immaterial as City can’t even take a point from a team like Stoke City so, even if they were to qualify as group winners, it is unlikely that they would then progress. (more…)

Manchester United, Gary Neville, Cristiano Ronaldo & Gareth Bale

Posted: November 30, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Good old Gary. You have to admire his optimism, don’t you? He was a dopey defender, as Rodney Marsh used to say, who has turned into football’s answer to ‘The Man Who Knew Everything.” Very likeable and speaking a lot of common sense he is a refreshing addition to the world of punditry which previously boasted Paul Merson and his twenty words vocabulary as one of the leading lights, (and still does, to be honest).

According to Neville the elder, Manchester United are just TWO, yes TWO players short of being like Barcelona, whatever that means.

I suppose if Messi and Neymar were to sign for United tomorrow they would then be more like Barcelona. Only they wouldn’t be, because Barca would no longer have Messi and Neymar. They would still have Luis Suarez, which would make them more like Manchester City who also have only one world class striker in Sir Joe Aguero.

Trying to be more logical than Neville isn’t particularly difficult. All we need to do is work out which two players he means then, obviously, whoever is left would get into the Barcelona team. So let’s start up top. (more…)

The Transition Of Jose Mourinho

Posted: November 23, 2015 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion
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Jose Mourinho sat in his office at Cobham, whistling “Maybe it’s Because I’m a Londoner,” in between mouthfuls of fish and chips and slurps from his mug of Tetley’s tea. His anglicization now almost complete.

He has to retain a little of the Portuguese, after all, it is where he was born and it is where he wants to retire to at some stage in the dim and distant future, or quite soon, depending upon which is your newsrag of choice.

Since winning the Champions League title with little old Porto back in 2004, having only replaced Octavio Machado in 2002, Jose’s star has been on the rise.

He has become a truly European manager, having won the title with clubs in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain. He has also won the Champions League with clubs in Portugal and Italy. (more…)

Capital Nonsense

Posted: October 8, 2015 in Football, Opinion
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At the risk of appearing as though this is becoming my pet project I want to write, for the last time, about the attraction, (or otherwise), of capital cities to football players.

In England, at the moment, there is a feeling that players coming into our game from abroad would rather play for a London team because they would rather live in London.

I don’t think it is the feeling of the majority, but there are certainly some who think this way. I have covered the reasons as to why this isn’t true, specifically about London, in another post, which you can access here.

What I would like to look at now is whether the capital cities in other countries hold any more attraction than the other large cities when a player is making a move. (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…)

It Isn’t Easy Being Manchester United

Posted: August 4, 2015 in Manchester United
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(This is an article I first posted back in August of last year. The reason for republishing this edited version is simple, it is still pretty relevant.)

Well, that ‘s the halfway stage reached with United in fifth place. The expectation after the last spend would have been a little higher, maybe fourth or third, as everybody expected Chelsea and City to be one and two, so a little down on target to date.

Now, all that remains to be done is to strengthen the squad so that the second half of the season culminates in a top four finish.

So let the problems begin. Firstly, everybody who is anybody will be linked with a move to United except the three, now untouchable, at Barcelona, (as eagle-eyed readers will know, since this article, Neymar actually has been linked with United).This, in itself, is a problem. Gone are the days when you merely had to say that you represented Manchester United for the targeted player to immediately pack his bags and instruct his agent to negotiate his departure. (more…)

Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich

Posted: July 29, 2015 in European Football, Football, Opinion
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Why do top players, when given the chance to sign for one of the top clubs, invariably choose Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich? Even Manchester United rarely get a look-in if one of these three is involved.

It’s too simplistic to say they are the best teams in Europe. In the last ten years only Barcelona have enjoyed relative success in the Champions league, having won it four times. Real Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich have each won it once in the same period.

Of the leagues in which they play only the Premier League can be said to be contested by more than two or three teams. (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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