Posts Tagged ‘Wayne Rooney’

For That Amount Of Money Paul Pogba Has To Be The Main Man Under Jose Mourinho At Manchester United

Posted: August 5, 2016 in European Football, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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He doesn’t look the shy, retiring type. Gold lamĂ© backpacks and matching trainers certainly make Paul Pogba stand out in the crowd, even in America. He is also nearly as well known for his hairstyles as his football so what can Manchester United fans expect on the pitch?

Well there will be a few who already know what to expect as he only left the club four years ago having been a youth and reserve team player there. In fact it was his perceived lack of opportunity which resulted in him leaving for Juventus when only nineteen years of age.

Now, unless he suffers a dramatic loss of form, he will be a regular and one of the first, if not the first, names on the teamsheet. He will be able to thumb his nose at Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager responsible for his leaving the club in the first place. This, however would be unlikely as Pogba appears to be bigger than that sort of behaviour. (more…)

Wayne Rooney Should Not Be Selected As A Player For Manchester United By Jose Mourinho, Never Mind As Captain!

Posted: July 24, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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What does Wayne Rooney have on the plus side of his account with United?

He is the clubs leading all-time goalscorer. He is the captain of United as well as of England, although the impression is that both appointments were made due to a massive shortage of suitable candidates. He has been a decent player for a few seasons whilst never reaching the heights thought possible when he first appeared for Everton. That’s about it!

Unless I am missing something glaringly obvious then Rooney hasn’t actually contributed massively to United’s success over the years. That isn’t to say that he hasn’t contributed at all, he has, just not to the extent that some people, himself included, would have us believe. (more…)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic May Not Have Anything To Prove To Jose Mourinho, But He Has Plenty To Prove To Manchester United And The Fans

Posted: July 18, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Eric Cantona recently stated that Zlatan Ibrahimovic could become the “Prince of Manchester”. This title was the highest earthly one available according to Eric as HE was the “King of Manchester”.

The first task here is to correct Eric’s misunderstanding that he is the “King”. This title has always belonged, and will always belong, to Denis Law, regardless of whoever follows him.

Proof, if any were needed, can not only be found in the number of goals Law scored for United, but also in the lyrics of a famous old song which rang round Old Trafford for many years. Sang to the tune of “Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner”, the title was changed to “Maybe it’s because I’m from Manchester” and the final line was “and the King is Denis Law”. Older followers of these chronicles will remember it well. (more…)

Why Jose Mourinho And Manchester United Should Part Company With Wayne Rooney

Posted: July 12, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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imageAccording 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…)

Which Positions Does Jose Mourinho Really Need To Strengthen At Manchester United?

Posted: July 9, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Let’s start at the beginning, number one. It would seem that David De Gea is among the top three or four goalkeepers in the world and, as second choice, Mourinho has the Argentina number one in Sergio Romero, so that position seems pretty safe at present.

Action required: None

Next is the right full/wing back position. It is hard to say who is the current number one for this role. Van Gaal brought in Matteo Darmian who was the first choice for Italy. He suffered a loss of form after a bright start and was replaced by Guillermo Varela, then Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and, eventually, Antonio Valencia. Varela’s defending was a little naive at times, BJ is still very young but looks a great prospect and Valencia cannot defend as he frequently proved last season, getting caught out of position on many occasions and failing to play the offside with the rest of the defence. (more…)

Louis Van Gaal Proves That Manchester United Can Get Worse

Posted: February 18, 2016 in Europa League, Football, Manchester United, Opinion
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Manchester United were so pathetic against Midtjylland that the fans who paid ÂŁ71 for their tickets only proved that the team, currently, are not worth the money. Their protests should be directed at Louis van Gaal for producing amateur football for which the fans have to pay professional prices for the very dubious “privilege” of being able to watch. Not to mention flying to Denmark and, probably, staying in a rip-off hotel overnight!

Before the game David De Gea pulled up with an injury which ruled him out and he was replaced by Sergio Romero. This brought United’s injury list up to 14 according to van Gaal. De Gea actually wasn’t missed as Romero had a very good game.

After the game van Gaal blamed Murphy’s law for losing a game they should have won. As we all know only too well van Gaal will blame anything or anybody rather than himself.

The bottom line here is that van Gaal, thanks to his disastrous transfer window, doesn’t have sufficient cover in various important positions and the players he is currently using are not good enough. Quoting the loss of Rooney for six weeks as a shock is an example of the lunacy currently presiding at Old Trafford. Only a matter of weeks ago the vast majority of fans wanted him dropped from the team. How come it suddenly makes such a difference when he is injured? He may have scored a couple of goals recently but he still wasn’t playing THAT well. (more…)

Ibrahimovic, Rooney, Hazard, Mourinho & A Protest!

Posted: February 18, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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So Zlatan Ibrahimovic is available at the end of the season. He can even go to the Premier League if he so wants. He will have a choice of top clubs just waiting to welcome him with open arms and open cheque book.

Well I, for one, hope that is not the case. I don’t have a lot of time for him and his arrogant ways. He is a vastly overrated footballer who, similar to Wayne Rooney, occasionally does something brilliant. He is 34 years of age which makes him two years older than Robin van Persie when he was deemed “not good enough” by the Manchester United manager. Ibrahimovic will certainly add nothing to a top six team.

Maybe a year at West Ham or Southampton if those clubs are not beneath the conceited one, which I feel sure that they are.

Having just mentioned Rooney, apparently Manchester United are considering an offer from China for him. I hope this one is true because he has certainly long outstayed his welcome as far as I am concerned. As anyone who has followed these chronicles for more than five minutes will know, had it been up to me he would have been sold the first time his toys came out of the pram, when he had the audacity to hold the club to ransom. (more…)

Why Wayne Rooney & John Terry Don’t Need To Defend Their Managers

Posted: January 31, 2016 in Chelsea, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Many a time, when a manager is under pressure, one of the team’s star players will decide, unwisely, that he should speak up on behalf of the beleaguered boss.

Usually it is the captain who will step forward to the microphone and recent examples have included John Terry, during the last few games of Jose Mourinho’s reign at Chelsea and Wayne Rooney at Manchester United.

The reason it is not necessarily the brightest move to make is because it puts even more pressure on the manager.

The captains in question no doubt feel that they are doing the manager a service by voicing their opinion that the players “are the ones who go out onto the pitch”, and that “the manager can only pick the team, he can’t play the game”, but, in fact, the reverse is true.

Yes the manager picks the team so, it can be argued, he isn’t doing so very well if they keep losing! Also, the captain is indirectly admitting that the players aren’t performing for this manager. So surely it would be better to keep mum and get on with trying to help the manager with the performances ON the pitch rather than OFF it. (more…)

Louis Van Gaal, The Modern Day Rasputin

Posted: January 29, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion
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(Rasputin would have been proud of Louis’ survival instincts!)

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin was a Russian peasant, known as the “Mad Monk”, although he only spent three months in a monastery. He claimed he had powers of mystic healing and prediction. Using these powers he somehow contrived to heal the Royal family’s son of haemophilia. This elevated him into being accepted by Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Aleksandra as, after four girls, this was their only son and heir who’s life he had saved.

The problem was that it made the other high-powered natives restless. They thought that Rasputin was using his new found influence to run Russia as the Tsarina was a really big fan and hung onto his every word. So they decided to do what was always decided to do back then, they decided to get rid of him.

After poisoning him with potassium cyanide, shooting him three times, (once in the head hitting the brain, once in the chest hitting the stomach and liver and once in the back hitting the kidneys), and beating him with a 2lb dumbell they finally managed to kill him by tying him up and throwing him over a bridge into the nearby river. Even then he only died because the river froze over him while he was unconscious, as they didn’t bother to weigh him down with anything!

2016 will be the one hundredth anniversary of his death so it seems only fitting to say a few words about the reincarnated version of Rasputin, namely Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal. (more…)

Boring, Boring Man United

Posted: January 23, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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A month which saw Manchester United start with an undeserved win against Swansea saw them finish with a deserved defeat against Southampton.

In between these two matches they had undeservedly beaten a first division side in the FA Cup, thrown away the lead twice away at Newcastle and undeservedly beaten Liverpool at Anfield.

The only surprising aspect of the month of January is that United won ANY games. Their play, with the possible exception of the game at Newcastle, was abject throughout and it is amazing that anybody should think the pressure on van Gaal has eased.

I have just sat through yet another 90 minutes of unadulterated boredom. I have watched a Southampton player being given the man of the match award at Old Trafford, not because Southampton won, but because no United player would have been in the first ten!

I have watched an abject performance from Jesse Lingard, yet he stayed on the pitch for the full ninety minutes. Juan Mata started on the bench! Would somebody please explain to me how he can be left out yet Fellaini and Lingard can be selected? Don’t tell me it’s tactical, because van Gaal evidently does not know the meaning of the word. (more…)

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