Alright, it may be asking a bit much to expect this team to win the Premier League. They will also need to play considerably better against Chelsea in the FA Cup than they did against Southampton in the EFL Cup, where they proved that it is possible for the better team to lose.
Take Zlatan Ibrahimovic out of that EFL final team, give Southampton back the goal that was wrongly disallowed and the trophy would be heading to St. Marys, not Old Trafford. (more…)
When he arrived at Manchester United it seemed fairly obvious where the problems lay.
After two years with Louis van Gaal in charge, the football was stale and boring. One-dimensional with the tendency to try and keep possession without actually going anywhere. The United faithful quite quickly got fed up watching their team passing sideways and backwards then, eventually, either giving the ball away or simply running out of pitch.
The United board or, more particularly, Ed Woodward finally ran out of patience and even an FA Cup win wasn’t enough to earn van Gaal a contract extension. It didn’t help him that JosĂ© Mourinho was out of work and available and, more to the point, was the popular choice of the majority of United supporters. (more…)
Rewind to a time not much more than twelve months ago. Stood on the touchline at the Kingpower Stadium was a manager whose team looked bereft of ideas, short of a leader and heading in one direction only, downwards.
José Mourinho, when interviewed after that 2-1 loss to Leicester City, unashamedly blamed his players for not following orders. This despite the fact that, as he well knows, the ultimate responsibility lies with the person who picks those players.
Roman Abramovich obviously concurred with the opinion that the manager was at fault and Mourinho was out of work. (more…)
Premier League title winning is something Jose Mourinho knows all about. It is also something Sir Alex Ferguson knows all about. The common denominator between the two is Manchester United. So how come one of the most expensive squads in the world is struggling to get into the top four?
The answer to the question is very simple even if the solution to the problem isn’t quite so straightforward. They are struggling due to an inability to score goals.
This inability has resulted in too many drawn games which should have been comfortable victories. (more…)
Bastian Schweinsteiger has managed to work his way back as far as the bench. Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay also reached that lofty height and Matteo Darmian has had a reasonable run in the first team, just not in his favoured position. That his best role has been filled by a winger who can’t defend says a lot about Darmian’s future in Mourinho’s team.
Marcos Rojo is almost a regular and Daley Blind flits in and out depending upon the opposition. Luke Shaw is yet to fully recover mentally from his injury and only time will tell if he is going to fulfill his potential and whether or not that will be at United. (more…)
So the time is nearly upon us. The massively over-hyped games between Everton and Manchester City, followed by Manchester United and Liverpool are just around the corner.
The respective fields will be taken by multi-millionaires running round doing something they love whilst being watched by, in the main, poorer working class people who have managed to scrape together the cost of either a season ticket or a matchday ticket.
Higher in the stands will be Roy Keane’s favourite people. The prawn sandwich brigade who sometimes don’t even know which game they are attending. The score, or even who is victorious, is a complete irrelevance to these types. (more…)
For the last few seasons Manchester United have lacked passion. They have lacked passion from the manager and they have lacked passion from the players. Only now, under José Mourinho, are they starting to show a little of the old commitment and desire.
David Moyes may have been a fiery Scot but he was overawed by the players at Manchester United because they had won much more than he had and there was little, if anything, he could teach them. (more…)
Premier League manager’s are paid millions every season to ensure, in varying degrees, success or survival. The very top managers are paid to compete for the title.
José Mourinho would come under the heading of the very top managers, so here is my question:
If I, sat in my armchair watching the game, can say to my wife that if Fellaini comes on he will give away the free-kick from which Everton will equalise, how come Mourinho can’t work it out? It was rank bad management and, in fact, it was the manager who cost United the two points with that decision. (more…)
After a short break to recharge the batteries WSA is back! Bigger and better than ever! Well, the same as it was before anyway. Much like Manchester United who, in the first ten minutes of their game against West Ham, appeared to be bigger and better than ever but weren’t really.
Having scored a very well worked goal in the opening minutes, thanks to a fine pass from Rooney to Mkhitaryan and a back heel from the Armenian to Ibrahimovic who clipped the ball over the advancing goalkeeper, they then proceeded to go back into their shell. (more…)
(JosĂ© Mourinho has a few things to think about before Sunday’s game with Swansea)
Manchester United have gone from being challengers to strugglers in a few short weeks.
Whether it is more surprising that they actually played well at the start of the season, or that they returned to their abject selves after a very short while is debatable.
What seems to have been missed by Moyes, van Gaal and now Mourinho, is that the United players appear to find it virtually impossible to pass the ball to each other. The amount of times a pass goes straight to an opposition player is now too numerous to be put down to bad luck or just erratic passing. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 