#but now imagining if it was a man utd one or a real madrid one or something... oh the horrors
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the chelsea jersey is something that can be so personal to me
#him being a chelsea supporter........ loml truly#also thinking about what I could've had if taylor had fallen for a football player instead of an american football one aklsksakl#but now imagining if it was a man utd one or a real madrid one or something... oh the horrors#damon albarn#blur#chelsea fc
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Paul Pogba reaches major decision on Man Utd future as summer signing exerts influence
Paul Pogba is ready to commit himself to a new contract at Manchester United after their summer transfer business reportedly prompted the player into a major U-turn.There is no doubting the mercurial abilities of Man Utd’s No 6. Indeed, Pogba certainly has the ability to grab games by the scruff of the neck and produce moments of magic to ensure a victory. However, displays like his four-assist showing against Leeds at the start of the season have been frustratingly infrequent.
Indeed, all that comes against the back-drop of constant speculation surrounding his future. And having revealed his wish to move elsewhere, United were expected to cash in this summer.
However, despite the likes of PSG planning an approach, a move did not materialise. Still, with less than 10 months now remaining on his deal, Pogba is able to negotiate terms with an overseas suitor from January 1.
And that could let in the likes of Real Madrid or former club Juventus to land him on a free.
Nonetheless, a report last month claimed United remain hopeful of typing Pogba down to a new deal. Indeed, the World Cup winner is one of four stars in line to receive a pay hike, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seemingly ready to play an ace card.
Now, David Ornstein of The Athletic claims Pogba is ready to commit to that deal. In an exclusive, he claims Pogba is now ready to sign an extension at Old Trafford that commits the best years of his career to the Red Devils.
Ornstein claims there is now a ‘genuine chance’ that Pogba will sign up – and he cites the influence of Cristiano Ronaldo as a factor.
The Portuguese superstar struck twice on his on his second debut for the club on Saturday. His double had a bouncing Old Trafford in jubilation.
And the buzz around the place, kickstarted by the return of Ronaldo, has seemingly convinced Pogba to stay.
Pogba is now reportedly poised to sign a three-year extension with United having the option of an extra year. That would see him staying at Old Trafford until 2024 at the earliest and well into his thirties.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 10 most iconic club moments for Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus
Ronaldo return has Manchester ‘buzzing’
Ronaldo’s return to United has the red half of the city buzzing, according to Gary Neville.
“I walked out into Manchester’s city centre on Saturday morning and I’ve not seen it as alive for five or 10 years. What he’s done to the Premier League for interest is exciting,” Neville told Sky Sports.
“But for the city, he’s absolutely got it buzzing with excitement. And this was even before he scored the two goals.
“I was at Salford and saw the news that he scored and I only imagine what the atmosphere was like.
“I spoke to a couple of people who were there and they said it was out of this world. It was bouncing like they’ve never seen it before.
“And than Salford scored in the last minute which meant it was the perfect football day.”
READ MORE: Graeme Souness taunts Man Utd over transfer mistake, saying star has no weakness
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Manchester United have already made the first move prior to the 2020/21 Premier League season by signing Odion Ighalo. After arriving on loan from Shanghai Shenhua in January, Ighalo’s stint at Old Trafford was set to expire last monthbut the Nigerian has impressed the club he supported as a boy, scoring four goals in eight appearances so far. His performances in the Red Devils jersey have earned him a new contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2021. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in the middle of planning for a long-term rebuild before the nationwide lockdown was introduced in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (ESPN). According to Le10 Sport (as relayed by Sport Witness), Ighalo could be reunited with his former international teammate Wilfred Ndidi in the summer. The 23-year-old has played a major role for Leicester City this season, scoring two goals and supplying one assist in the Premier League, winning four tackles per game, averaging 2.7 interceptions and completing two clearances per game on average (via WhoScored). He has notably earned a higher WhoScored rating than veteran United midfielder Nemanja Matic for his performances in the English top flight. His heroics all over the pitch have attracted attention from a number of suitors, including Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, and United have now thrown their name into the mix. He has also been compared to former Foxes star N’Golo Kante, who is now at Chelsea. However, the midfielder is currently valued at £32.4m via Transfermarkt and it remains to be seen if the board will be willing to splash the cash. Indeed, Ed Woodward has previously warned United’s summer spending may be limited due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Naturally, some United fans remain sceptical as Ndidi could cost a lot of money in the transfer window. One supporter tweeted that the “excellent” player is “miles better than Matic” but is wary of Leicester’s valuation. Another added that he could be the “perfect signing” as a longer-term replacement for Matic. Have a read through the rest of the mixed reactions so far… Ndidi is miles better than matic,fred, and mctominay. He is one of the best Dms in the league and is pl proven and much younger. I'd love him in the midfield but if leicester are asking 80 mil for chilwell imagine what they would want for him. — O'shea Chip (@shea_chip) June 15, 2020 This would be an perfect signing for Us and one for the future still 23 years ols🙌🏻🤞 — Kristian Helle (@helle_kristian) June 15, 2020 He’s an excellent player — Abubakar Zulfikar Mithwani (@abubakarunik) June 15, 2020 30m plus Jesse lingard is a good business — kasimujunior (@KasimuFelix) June 15, 2020 Would take him in a heartbeat 🙏🏾 — Mel🍫 (@melanieUTD) June 15, 2020 Ndidi will cost 100 mil, no thanks — Luke🇾🇪 (@OscarUtd_) June 15, 2020 You really think Leicester won’t want 100m+ for him… no chance — Sheldon 🔥🔥 (@_AxySzN) June 15, 2020 United fans, should the board sign Wilfred Ndidi in the summer? Let us know down below! Click here to comment on this articleorGive us feedback on your Football Transfer Tavern experience #ManUtd #ManUtdFans #EdWoodward
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"Stuff of dreams", "Just imagine", "Ole knows ball": Lots of MUFC fans buzzing with Pogba update
After being linked with a move away from Old Trafford for the whole of last summer, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba ended up staying put at the club.
The Frenchman had publicly suggested that he would be open to leaving Manchester, with reports even claiming that the likes of Juventus and Real Madrid were keen to take him away from the Premier League.
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Since then, Pogba has struggled with injuries, keeping him out of action for a number of months – this season has seen him only make eight appearances for the first-team.
Now, The Daily Mirror claim that United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made plans to keep Pogba a key part of the club’s future, and that he’s told him he wants to ” build a midfield partnership with Bruno Fernandes to provide a pathway back to glory for United when football resumes”.
After hearing about the update on Pogba, United fans took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the situation.
Stuff of dreams pic.twitter.com/vcA5kPzgsX
— KB-7 (@unitedAddixt) May 2, 2020
pic.twitter.com/TZO80yBs8W
—
(@PathT0Glory) May 2, 2020
Excited to see them link-up in an actual game. It will be a nightmare for opposing teams.
— J (@j0esgrill) May 3, 2020
Best news ever @seun_weezy
— Patrick Ibine
(@AMIABLE_11) May 2, 2020
Just imagine bruno ,pogba nd martial play
— Mr.Local (@AnilThala1) May 3, 2020
Some United fans in particular praised Solskjaer for potentially getting Pogba to stay, with one supporter claiming that he would rate him so much more if he could also sign Jadon Sancho too
Ole knows ball pic.twitter.com/FmUhOxCxXp
— Sam (@UtdSamm) May 2, 2020
My Norwegian king pic.twitter.com/jINHt0XyA7
— zashido (@awbzunio) May 2, 2020
If Ole manages to keep pogba whilst signing Sancho plus others I’ll rate him so much more but then it’s all about the football on the pitch and results and that’s what I want to see
— Lew (@UtdLew) May 2, 2020
A Pogba/Fernandes partnership is certainly a mouth-watering prospect.
The duo have yet to take to the field for United just yet, but it is certainly a tantalising thing for fans of the Manchester side to start dreaming about.
If they can keep hold of Pogba this summer, then the Red Devils could boast a formidable midfield duo for next season.
Meanwhile, Man Utd fans discuss a major update on their swoop for Kai Havertz.
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a change of results
Retrospection is such a human trait, and it seems to come to the fore in sports. Match reports are actually pointless, if you think about it; what for review something that’s already happened and will never happen again? Greatest XIs, players you’d have liked to play with – all these are things that you would have liked to have had but never will. And so this question begs that kind of answer: fantastical, self-indulgent, and nothing more than a wish, a dream.
The go-to result I say when I think of this question is the Champions’ League final of 2009. I remember reading the papers the morning after and being bitterly disappointed. My dad, from the doorway, said, “that was way too easy,” and I said, “but still.” If we’d won that not only would we have been one shy of Liverpool’s record, we would also have been the first team in the modern era to have won it back to back, Madrid be damned.
There are other candidates in this vein, of course. Reversing the 6-1 defeat against City that would have left us with the league; some result in the 94/95 season for similar result; any one of the FA Cup finals we’ve lost; the 1996 semi-final against Germany for England. Any of these are easy to explain. But the real result I settle on, regardless of trophies and glory and everything that’s shiny in our lives, is different from that. Instead of wanting us to win a game, I want us to have lost.
Let me take you back almost sixty years, now. There’s a bunch of fellows dressed in natty suits waiting in a German airport. I assume all their ties were red. They’ve had two false starts, because it’s snowing heavily outside, but they’re optimistic about this third time being their last. They board the plane. They’re chatting, talking about cards and home and football, of course. They’re into the semi-finals of the European Cup – who wouldn’t be cheerful?
You know what comes next. Everyone does. I cried once in the National Football Museum and that was at the telegram Duncan Edwards sent to his landlady – ‘all fights cancelled. Flying tomorrow. Duncan.’ There’s this one picture in the Guardian from the 7th of February, 1958, dull and dark, the sheen of the moon or some kind of light reflecting dimly on the pavement. Hundreds, thousands of people are lined along the road. They’re all waiting for something. You can’t make out their faces but some have their heads bowed, some have their hands clasped. On the back of the photograph it says – Old Trafford at midnight, crowds waiting for cortege of coffins of Manchester Utd.
I don’t suppose I can adequately explain the collective grief that a football club experiences when something like this happens. It happened to Chapecoense and the world mourned with them, as they should have, but when you are a fan of that club tragedy is a completely different thing. To understand this you must understand how fans relate to football. I know that we’re fond of saying ‘it isn’t just a game’, but there isn’t any other way to put it. It’s not just a game, pure and simple. It becomes a part of your life; it is that which defines you and that with which you define yourself. When you become a fan of a club you’re buying into a common identity, a culture, a different society. And tragedy affects all of these things. As a Singaporean I’m still affected by the Japanese Occupation even though I hadn’t even been born, because it is a defining moment in our history that shapes it. So too for tragedy in football, and especially when it happens to the team.
Because the team represents the club, represents its values, represents – as it were – your soul; and the Busby Babes were United. Strong and brave and bright and young. I was reading Arthur Hopcraft’s The Football Man recently and he says that Munich is different from other disasters, like Milan’s, because Edwards and the rest represented the beginning of what could have been a future. It is their unfulfilled, unknown potential that hurts the most. They were already through to the semi-finals – they could have been the first ever English team to lift the trophy. They were already league title winners. They were midway through the FA Cup (and, incidentally, still reached the final that year). Their names could have gone down in history as champions, winners, legends; not sad ghosts so cruelly snatched away, with nothing more than black and white photographs and a memorial every year.
You might think me mechanical for reducing the tragedy to mere trophies. I’m aware that winning isn’t everything, but football is everything, and in football the narrative goes with the most dizzying of wins, the jaw-dropping last minute victories (snatched preferably from reviled opponents). This is not to define their lives in terms of winning – they had families, wives, children, mothers and fathers – but to explain why their loss is felt so keenly. They gave people something to believe in, and taking away a team is like taking away hope. They are your father, brother, son. And you feel the loss just as keenly. Danny Boyle in the Class of ‘92 mentions how the last photograph of the Busby Babes was the biggest photograph in his family album. Eric Harrison says that he was pulled out of class to be told the news, like when a relative passes. In The Football Man, Hopcraft on visiting Dudley (Edwards’ hometown) related this anecdote told by Edwards’ father: lorry drivers with Manchester accents, stopping on the long run home from somewhere south to visit Duncan’s grave.
Sir Alex Ferguson was fond of saying that a club is like a family. When something happens everyone, regardless of how far away they are, feels it. This doesn’t just ripple through support at the time; it ripples through time itself, because of how human it is. At the end of the day eight boys died. The oldest was twenty-eight. Big Duncan was twenty-three. Hopcraft writes about the grief of Edwards’ parents, the way they kept all his medals and England caps and United shirts in his room. In the Dudley Cathedral there is a stained glass window featuring him in his United kit kicking a ball. Football is about remembering. About telling stories. About not forgetting what came before, be it a treble or a tragedy.
The more cynical people in the world have accused Manchester United of turning Munich into a publicity stunt, a circus fest of memorials and pointless sentiment; all right, perhaps there are those who would do that, but I’ve no doubt that any true United fan understands the gravity of the occasion, and behind the so-called memory industry there is a swelling of feeling that manifests itself in the spontaneity of people who gather in the Munich tunnel quiet and solemn. Class of ’92 highlights the comparisons between the Busby Babes and Fergie’s Fledglings, and about the shadow of Munich that settled over the club always. Duncan Hamilton, in his book about George Best, wrote about the 1968 European Cup semi-final against Real Madrid. Bill Foulkes, a Munich survivor, scored the winner, and ‘turns towards his own half, slightly spreading his arms and softly clenching together the fingers of both hands. His face is almost stony.’ Hamilton delves into hyperbole and imagination here, but you can’t help agreeing with him when he posits that one image must have been ‘whirling through [Foulkes’s] mind then. Of men who would never age, would never go grey and would always wear United Red.’
Tragedy has moulded us as a club, for better or for worse. To accuse Munich of being manufactured would be to accuse us of lacking a soul. Yet some stories are better left untold. I know that Munich has added to the club mythology and sense of self and our way of being, but all the same I wish that there was a less awful way of doing this than having to know that twenty-three people died. How much better would it have been for our story, our spirit to have been written in the silver engravings on the bottom of trophies than the stone embossing on shrines. How much more important should the names on that empty lineup against Sheffield Wednesday be filled, that twenty-three families, and United itself, could have gone on.
Which is why the game I would change, even though I know I will never be able to, is a game in the European Cup run of Manchester United in 1957/58. Perhaps instead of winning 3-0 against Dukla Prague on the 20th of November, Pegg and Taylor amongst the scorers, we could have lost 3-0 instead. The next leg was lost 1-0 at home, and we would never have made it through to play Red Star Belgrade. Never stopped at Munich to board a plane. They would have come home from Prague awfully disappointed, their spirits down, a bitter taste in their mouths, faced with insurmountable odds. But they would have come home.
Mark Jones – Roger Byrne – Geoff Bent – David Pegg – Eddie Colman – Bill Whelan – Tommy Taylor
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Man Utd news LIVE: Ed Woodward eyes £180m double transfer, scouts watch the ‘new Pirlo’ | Football | Sport
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford
Monday, September 16
James Maddison and Jadon Sancho are top of Manchester United’s wishlist
The young English pair are expected to cost upwards of £180million
David de Gea has signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United
Manchester United are monitoring Brescia midfielder Sandro Tonali
Europa League ambitions
Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot is desperate to get his hands on the Europa League trophy this season.
The Red Devils start their campaign at Old Trafford against Astana on Thursday – and Dalot wants a winning start.
“It’s a big competition, but not as big for this club,” Dalot told the United App. “This club needs to be in the Champions League every day, every year, winning the Champions League and in Portugal it’s a little but different.
“Of course it’s a big competition that if any team wins it’ll be a great achievement, but for this club when we are in it we just need to win it.”
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
Maddison meltdown
Manchester United fans are pleading with James Maddison to move to the Red Devils after he posted on Instagram with Old Trafford set as the location.
The 22-year-old’s post had no caption attached to it and the picture showed the midfielder playing at the Theatre of Dreams on Saturday for Leicester.
All pretty harmless but his post has sent United fans wild, with most pleading for the former Norwich man to follow his ex-team-mate Harry Maguire to Manchester.
One said: “Please force the move fella.” Another wrote: “You’re welcome here whenever.” Someone else went with: “You’ll be posting plenty of photos at Old Trafford next season pal.”
DDG savings?!
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has put pen to paper on a new four-year contract in a deal which may have saved the Red Devils a huge chunk of cash.
The Spaniard will be earning around £375,000-a-week, making him the club’s highest earner following the loan departure of Alexis Sanchez.
The goalkeeper will now stay at Old Trafford until at least June 2023 on his current contract, which will be worth £97.5m if the option of a fifth year is taken up, including add-ons, according to the Mirror.
United boss Solskjaer may have saved the club £100m in securing De Gea’s future, as he’d need to break the bank to sign a replacement.
United have agreed to spend £97.5m on De Gea’s contract, assuming he stays for the four years of his current deal, and the added one-year extension.
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
He’s a disgrace
Gary Neville has labelled Paul Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola a “disgrace” and believes the Frenchman is still ager to leave Manchester United.
“Pogba wants to leave. He has made it clear,” Neville told Norwegian TV. “His agent is a disgrace and has been a disgrace all over Europe – not just for Manchester United.
“They must stop working with him. He doesn’t have the values you want in your club. My opinion is that Manchester United need not negotiate with him.
“He will try to fix a transfer for his player, and will try to take part of the transfer sum himself. That’s how he operates.”
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
Neymar wanted Barca
PSG star Neymar has admitted he wanted to join Barcelona during the transfer window for ‘personal reasons’.
“Everyone knows I wanted to leave,” he said. “I made it very clear. I won’t go into details though, because it affects others.
“But I’m still a PSG player and my intention is to be happy on the pitch. My mind is on PSG.
“I always made it clear that I don’t have anything against PSG or the fans. They were personal reasons. I had my reasons and I tried my best to make it happen, but unfortunately they didn’t let me.”
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
Christian Eriksen snubs Spurs
Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen is prepared to snub any contract offers from the club.
Eriksen, 27, was tipped to leave north London this summer with the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona all linked at some stage.
The Dane admitted he would like a fresh challenge elsewhere – but the deadline came and went with Eriksen failing to secure a transfer.
Now, Spanish newspaper Marca claim he’ll refuse any late approach from Tottenham to enable him to leave for free in the summer of 2020.
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic contract
Lazio are set to tie Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to a new contract.
The Serbia international has been on the radar of multiple European heavyweights including Manchester United and Real Madrid.
But it looks like the 24-year-old will be staying in Italy.
Calciomercato claim Milinkovic-Savic will sign a new five-year deal worth £51k per week.
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
Wanted: Logan Pye
Arsenal look set to beat Manchester United to the signing of Sunderland teenager Logan Pye.
That’s according to The Sun, who claim Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had been tracking the 15-year-old for some time.
It’s said the Gunners will ‘pounce’ during the next transfer window when Pye turns 16 and is eligible to sign a professional contract.
Pye, who can play centre-half or full-back, has mad five appearances for Sunderland’s Under-18 squad – netting once.
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
Matic to Juve?
Juventus are keen on bringing Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic to Serie A.
Matic failed to make an appearance under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this season until Saturday’s win over Leicester.
But with Paul Pogba to return from injury, the Serbian will likely see his services reduced to bench duty once again.
And according to The Sun, Matic may not have to try his hand at cracking the first XI, as Juventus are in for his signature.
The report states that Matic’s lack of playing time for United has put Juve, who wanted to bring Pogba back to Turn, on alert for the Serb.
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
James Maddison & Jadon Sancho
James Maddison and Jadon Sancho are top of Manchester United’s wishlist.
That’s according to ESPN FC, who claim Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to bring the pair to Old Trafford next summer.
Maddison, 22, is thought to be valued at £80million by Leicester, while Borussia Dortmund’s Sancho could cost upwards of £100m.
Solskjaer’s side spent £150m on Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James last summer – and the Red Devils want to continue with the same transfer strategy.
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
David de Gea pens contract
David de Gea has signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United that will keep him at the club until June 2023.
The deal also includes the option to extend the contract for a further season.
De Gea told United’s official website: “It has been a privilege to spend eight years at this great club and the opportunity to continue my career at Manchester United is a genuine honour.
“Since I arrived here, I could never have imagined I would play over 350 games for this club. Now my future is fixed, all I want is to help this team achieve what I believe we can and win trophies again, together.”
Sandro Tonali – the new Pirlo
Manchester United are monitoring Brescia midfielder Sandro Tonali.
Italian publication Calciomercato claim United representatives were in attendance to watch him in action during Brescia’s 4-3 defeat to Bologna on Sunday.
Tonali, who has been compared to Andrea Pirlo by the Italian media, is also being assessed by European heavyweights Ajax and Borussia Dortmund.
“I hope Tonali remains in my hand as long as possible. If he wants to stay in Brescia, I am willing to keep him forever,” said Brescia president Massimo Cellino.
“No one has called me yet for him, but it is logical that everyone likes him”.
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
Dzeko wants Mkhi
Edin Dzeko wants Roma to sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan on a permanent basis.
The Armenia international arrived at Roma from Arsenal on a season-long loan and it didn’t take him long to settle in when scoring 22-minutes into his debut.
“I [expected the good performance] from him. I know him as a great player, and he is a very good addition to our attacking team who wants to play football,” Dzeko told reporters after the game.
“I am one 100% sure he is going to be a big help for us. I was definitely happy to see this transfer happen.”
Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)
Timo Werner pursuit
Bayern Munich will try to sign RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner next summer.
That’s the opinion of ex-Germany midfielder Michael Ballack.
Werner, 23, has been linked with Atletico Madrid, Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.
“He has expressed his gratitude to Leipzig with his contract extension. But I think next year a switch to Bayern could be on again,” Ballack told TZ.
Wanted: Logan Pye
Arsenal look set to beat Manchester United to the signing of Sunderland teenager Logan Pye.
That’s according to The Sun, who claim Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had been tracking the 15-year-old for some time.
It’s said the Gunners will ‘pounce’ during the next transfer window when Pye turns 16 and is eligible to sign a professional contract.
Pye, who can play centre-half or full-back, has mad five appearances for Sunderland’s Under-18 squad – netting once.
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Pogba Isn’t The Only Issue In Man Utd - Jose Mourinho
Pogba Isn’t The Only Issue In Man Utd - Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho ha declared that Manchester United problems ‘are still there’ and Paul Pogba was not the only issue - The Portuguese coach says Pogba was not solely responsible for his exit - Man United suffered eight defeat on their final 12 games across all competitions to finish sixth Jose Mourinho says his criticism about Manchester United have been justified and insists the issues pinpointed still exist under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Portuguese manager was sent packing from Old Trafford mid-December and, after showing promises in form and performances under Solskjaer, the Red Devils’ started nose-diving towards the end of the season, losing eight of their final 12 games across all competitions. According to Metro citing French newspaper L’Equipe, Mourinho has previously discussed the difficulties he faced in his third year at Old Trafford, having quarreled with a number of squad members.
However, the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager revealed in an interview L’Equipe that Man United are still in the same position they found themselves before his exit, stressing that the issues are not limited to the playing personnel. “I said nine or 10 months ago that after winning eight Championships, finishing second with United may have been my greatest achievement,” Mourinho was quoted as saying to L’Equipe. “Now people understand.’ “I do not always do my analysis publicly on Manchester United. I do not want to talk about it and I have the feeling that I do not need to speak, that time gives explanations. “About United I want to say only two things: One is that time has spoken. Two is that the problems are still there,” he noted. Mourinho, who frequently had misunderstanding with Paul Pogba before his sack, dismissed suggestions that his row with Frenchman was responsible. “No. The problems are there. You can imagine that the problems are the players, the organisation, the ambition. “I only say that I cannot say yes when you ask if Paul was the only one responsible.
" Earlier, reported that Paul Pogba was involved in a heated altercation with a section of fans at Old Trafford moments after Manchester United's 2-0 embarrassing defeat to Cardiff City on Sunday, May 12. The defeat was a culmination of United's woeful campaign in the Premier League as they finished the season sixth on the standings without any trophy. Moments after the clash, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men gave a lap of honour to a nearly half-empty Old Trafford as most of the fans had already made their way out.
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Juventus: Why Italians are so much more than Cristiano Ronaldo
It’s the 2017 Champions League final, Casemiro scores Real Madrid’s second and Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri looks at his bench to find nothing but mediocrity.
Mario Lemina, Juan Cuadrado – who was eventually sent off – and Claudio Marchisio, an outstanding player who never looked the same after his cruciate ligament injuries, are the options.
Juventus had once again found themselves on the brink of winning the big one, desperate to prove their time was now.
It wasn’t, again. They would go on to lose 4-1[1].
“We played brilliantly in the first half, but in the second we were beaten up. We found ourselves under pressure and had no solution,” remarked Allegri.
He simply didn’t have the weapons Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane had on the bench.
While the Frenchman could bring on Alvaro Morata, Marco Asensio and Gareth Bale, Allegri had limited resources. Rather upsetting for a coach rated largely for his ability to make the right substitutions at the right time to change the game.
Allegri confessed he found it difficult to continue at Juve after that match. It was draining. You could play the best football, united in a mission and outstanding at the back but lose to a moment of individual brilliance from stars such has Cristiano Ronaldo.
Buying Ronaldo must be the solution then. An Italian giant starving for European honours, Juventus are doing everything they can to win the Champions League trophy they have chased for over two decades and nothing announced that desperation more than the purchase of the reigning Ballon d’Or winner[2], a 33-year-old CR7.
Juventus win restores six-point lead[3]
Why Juventus can win the Champions League – and Man Utd won’t[4]
Costa the truffle hog searching for delicacies
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The world’s best player’s arrival in Turin certainly stole the headlines and Juventus have had their best start to a Serie A season, winning every game in every competition except for one. But in truth, Ronaldo is the icing on the cake, not the whole cake.
Rather than depend on Ronaldo – sent off in Juve’s opening match and without a goal so far in this Champions League campaign – Federico Bernardeschi dazzled[5] and Miralem Pjanic converted against Valencia and Paulo Dybala hit three[6] alongside Mario Mandzukic against Young Boys.
No Mandzukic against Manchester United? No problem. Dybala started alongside Cuadrado and Ronaldo and all three combined to score the only goal[7] of the game.
When Allegri looked at his bench in search of solutions that fateful night in Cardiff last year, few presented themselves. This season, he’s simply overwhelmed by his options, all capable of changing the game.
At Old Trafford, he introduced both Douglas Costa and Bernardeschi from the bench to keep Juve unpredictable at the top. The former has faced a spot of trouble at Juventus this season after spitting at an opponent[8] in the match against Sassuolo but his performances for the Italians prior to that incident has been nothing short of excellent.
Like a truffle hog in search of delicacies, Costa identifies and exploits space at full speed and like no other.
While he once played with his head down and no direction, clinging on to the ball for too long, Costa has improved under Allegri, making clever decisions and an impact off the bench. Brazil coach Tite recognised the quality of the player when he regularly looked at Costa to make the difference at the World Cup.
Introduce him against a tiring opponent and Costa’s quality becomes harder to ignore. Gazzetta dello Sport calculated that as a substitute, Costa has secured 15 points for the Bianconeri.
Dybala finally making impact
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Bernardeschi was the other man chosen to come on against Manchester United. Capable of playing as a winger, in midfield or even as a false number nine as he does for Roberto Mancini in the Italy team, Bernardeschi boasts intellect, speed and insane technique. He simply elevates the level of play in the final third and reads the game well.
Against Valencia, the winger positioned himself well, delivered accuracy, vision and consistent ideas. Against Frosinone, he played in midfield and injected imagination, speed of thought and speed of movement to the game.
Then there’s Dybala. A player with infinite potential who has struggled to impress in the big moments when all eyes have been focused on him, but this season he’s thriving alongside the many team-mates he knows are competing for a place in the starting XI.
Scoring the winning goal at Old Trafford, Dybala has played in a number of different positions and formations and is slowly learning how to impose his talent whatever the circumstances. Against Cagliari over the weekend, the diminutive Argentine took only 42 seconds to open the scoring[9] for Juventus.
If it’s not him starting, then it will be another. Ronaldo brings supreme quality and a winning mentality but the talents flanking him and the club’s squad depth is the main reason why Juve could be the team to beat in Europe. Especially when you consider those talents are in the hands of Allegri, the master of substitutions, versatility and balance.
Is there an anti-Juve?
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In Italy, the media is obsessed with finding the ‘anti-Juve’ – the team who journalists feel will challenge Juventus at the top of the Serie A table. Will it be Inter, the physical side that know how to bully and harass and make the most of their chances while securing clean sheets? Or will it be Napoli, the side blessed with technical players who rotate the ball beautifully and ping it from side to side to uncover gaps and opportunities?
The truth is there is no ‘anti-Juve’ because only Allegri’s side can field two separate teams of stars and play both styles of football.
They can deploy Mandzukic and Ronaldo upfront with Emre Can and Sami Khedira in midfield and bully their way from top to bottom, making the most of their aggression, strength and power.
Or they can rely on Dybala and Rodrigo Bentancur who, as evidenced in that match against Jose Mourinho’s men, is the master at positioning himself well, cutting out passing lanes and delivering technique and accuracy.
There is a player available for each type of style and football Juve are looking to play.
Beautiful football is not based around possession or fluent interchanging of passes but in executing a game plan perfectly.
Juventus have often been criticised for not playing a particularly exciting brand of football but offer them a challenge this season and they’ll present you with arguably the best football in Europe played in a multitude of ways and utilising a full squad of players Allegri is happy to rotate.
Yes Ronaldo is the difference maker, but to focus only on him would be a mistake.
References
^ lose 4-1 (www.bbc.co.uk)
^ purchase of the reigning Ballon d’Or winner (www.bbc.co.uk)
^ Juventus win restores six-point lead (www.bbc.co.uk)
^ Why Juventus can win the Champions League – and Man Utd won’t (www.bbc.co.uk)
^ Federico Bernardeschi dazzled (www.bbc.co.uk)
^ Paulo Dybala hit three (www.bbc.co.uk)
^ all three combined to score the only goal (www.bbc.co.uk)
^ spitting at an opponent (www.bbc.co.uk)
^ took only 42 seconds to open the scoring (www.bbc.co.uk)
BBC Sport – Football
Juventus: Why Italians are so much more than Cristiano Ronaldo was originally published on 365 Football
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Jose Mourinho: What's going on - and does he need out of Man Utd?
Jose Mourinho: What's going on - and does he need out of Man Utd?
Jose Mourinho: What’s going on – and does he need out of Man Utd?
Manchester United completed 19 factors behind champions Manchester Metropolis final season
A month in the past, when England had been trying ahead to a World Cup semi-final and as pre-season coaching for Europe’s main golf equipment was simply getting began, Manchester United’s ultimate US tour match towards Actual Madrid had a serious query mark over it.
Gareth Bale can be concerned. However for whom?
Quick ahead 4 weeks and, although England didn’t discover their utopia, Bale is completely satisfied sufficient, laughing and joking along with his Actual team-mates in Miami, his short-term future on the Bernabeu assured by new coach Julen Lopetegui.
However as they put together for Wednesday’s recreation, the query mark over United stays. If something, it’s larger than earlier than.
Supervisor Jose Mourinho’s feedback within the labyrinth of rooms on the Michigan Stadium on Saturday after a 4-1 loss to Liverpool noticed to that.
So, it’s time to ask the query. What’s going on with Mourinho and Manchester United?
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Why does Mourinho appear so sad?
In entrance of the cameras, Mourinho has not been a jovial character for a while.
One thing – most likely the scars of coping with the Madrid media throughout his time as Actual boss – occurred between his first stint at Chelsea and his second. No matter it was, it has taken away the general public geniality of the self-proclaimed ‘Particular One’.
However, the breadth of the targets he fired at throughout his tetchy 10-minute post-match information convention after the loss to Liverpool was jaw-dropping.
He lamented the absence of senior gamers, decried the usual of a few of the youthful ones who’re right here, wistfully mirrored on a switch goal he is not going to get, highlighted inactivity on one he nonetheless expects to, expressed frustration at accidents, invited senior gamers to return to coaching early, and questioned why supporters would pay to observe his staff.
In a much less well-publicised a part of his information convention, he thanked defender Eric Bailly for stepping in to interchange one other senior participant – Chris Smalling – on the weekend, then instantly rejected the Ivorian as a pacesetter. Chatting with United’s TV station, he accused new captain Antonio Valencia of coming back from his summer time break out of practice. As well as, he ridiculed the usual of a referee who gave two penalties towards his staff.
Broad-ranging is an effective description.
The important thing level is that this: does Mourinho harbour a rising sense of real unhappiness in any respect these supposed sources of irritation, is he making an attempt to make factors, or is he trying to deflect consideration from a heavy defeat by the hands of a serious rival?
If it’s the final of these, it’s a long-established managerial tactic. The center one might go both means. But when it’s the former, then a stereotypical full-blown third-year explosion – the kind Mourinho is at all times so fast to reject when requested about – is on the way in which.
Mourinho desires two signings, however solely expects one
Is his relationship with the membership strained?
There are two reactions to what Mourinho did on Saturday.
One is to lift an eyebrow, say it’s typical of him, specific sympathy along with his scenario and transfer on.
That is precisely what quite a lot of influential folks throughout the membership are doing. In any case, the Portuguese signed a brand new contract in January that not solely improved his phrases, however prolonged his tenure to 2020.
The connection between Mourinho and government vice-chairman Ed Woodward has repeatedly been described as sturdy by each males, so, presumably, potential battle areas inside summer time switch dealings would have been coated throughout the negotiations. It is usually possible a imaginative and prescient for the short-term future would have been agreed. Why would that all of a sudden change as a result of one switch goal was missed – which is barely what has occurred within the earlier two summers?
An alternate view, and there are different long-standing United figures who’re leaning in direction of this, is Mourinho desires out, and that is the beginning of his exit technique.
One factor that’s sure is that, for the primary time in his illustrious managerial profession, Mourinho is not going to have Rui Faria by his facet this season.
The pair have been inseparable since Mourinho appointed Faria – a person he describes as “a brother” – assistant at Uniao Leiria in 2001.
Nevertheless, final season, Faria – feeling he wasn’t attending to see sufficient of his household and exhausted by the pressures of day-to-day involvement on the very high of the sport – determined to take a break.
Mourinho has opted not to usher in a direct alternative. In Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna, he has added each a membership stalwart who has large data of the sport and an urge for food to study, and somebody whose status at each United and former membership Tottenham is big.
Given United completed final season 19 factors behind arch-rivals Manchester Metropolis – whose supervisor Pep Guardiola vies with Mourinho for the title of biggest supervisor of their technology – and haven’t accomplished a lot to recommend the hole will be closed, Saturday’s feedback are being interpreted by those that have adopted the exit-strategy concept as the beginning of an extended goodbye.
Are United prone to falling behind their rivals?
United’s solely vital signing to date this summer time has been Brazil midfielder Fred. One other central defender is anticipated, though who that’s stays unsure.
However, each males will probably be among the many high six most costly gamers United have ever purchased.
Of the opposite 4, solely Argentina ahead Angel di Maria is now not on the membership. In midfielder Paul Pogba and ahead Anthony Martial, two stay who haven’t come near acting at their high degree on a constant foundation.
Mourinho was not accountable for Martial’s arrival from Monaco. His view is the Frenchman goes lacking at key occasions, therefore his keenness to signal Croatia’s Ivan Perisic, each final summer time and this, from Inter Milan.
The 55-year-old was accountable for Bailly, fellow defender Victor Lindelof and ahead Alexis Sanchez – for a mixed payment of slightly below £100m. They’re but to make a big impression at Previous Trafford.
On the similar time, there is a component of the unknown about all United’s main rivals.
Manchester Metropolis’s solely summer time signing is Riyad Mahrez, an attacking participant the champions arguably don’t want. Tottenham have signed no-one but. Arsenal’s most costly addition of the transient Unai Emery period to date is Uruguay midfielder Lucas Torreira who, at £26m, price simply over half the £47m United have spent on Fred. Chelsea didn’t even appoint their new supervisor, Maurizio Sarri, till after pre-season coaching had began.
Of all the key golf equipment, Liverpool are those who seem to have vital ahead momentum. But three of their 4 main signings – midfielders Naby Keita and Fabinho, and goalkeeper Alisson – have by no means performed within the Premier League earlier than.
So, whereas it’s simple to really feel United are going backwards, it may be argued that if Mourinho will get extra from the gamers he has already invested a lot in, they will not be far-off from the key prizes.
What does it imply for United’s season?
As with all golf equipment, outcomes can shortly change perceptions.
The Crimson Devils open the Premier League as a complete once they entertain Leicester on 10 August.
Mourinho has already highlighted how a lot simpler the build-up to the brand new marketing campaign has been for Foxes boss Claude Puel, given so few of his gamers had been on the World Cup in Russia.
That is true. However Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire had been away with England till the semi-final stage, and Mahrez has been bought.
Will they trigger an upset on the opening day? Maybe not; it’s so lengthy since Leicester received at Previous Trafford the match-winner, in 1998, was Tony Cottee.
The Foxes might have received the Premier League extra not too long ago than United, but nothing that has occurred since suggests they’re near the extent Mourinho’s facet are able to reaching on residence soil.
After that, United have journeys to Brighton and Burnley, who may very well be going into the sport on the again of a sixth successive Thursday evening look within the Europa League.
Between these two away fixtures is a Monday evening date with Tottenham on 27 August. In addition to not making a signing to date this summer time, Spurs had eight gamers concerned on the final weekend of the World Cup, in comparison with United’s seven.
So of all the large golf equipment anticipated to be difficult for main honours, Spurs are arguably in a fair worse scenario than United in relation to their preparation for what lies forward.
As Arsenal have matches towards Manchester Metropolis and Chelsea over the primary two weekends, it leaves Liverpool as the one ‘big-six’ membership who don’t meet a rival earlier than the primary worldwide break.
So, whereas Mourinho has reliable grounds to grouse on the troublesome build-up he’s having to work round, most of his managerial adversaries are in an identical place.
By the point that Burnley journey is completed and the top-flight season halts for its first worldwide break, way more will probably be identified about the place United – and everyone else for that matter – really are.
From there, Mourinho’s pronouncements could have way more that means.
BBC Sport – Football
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Manchester United have been talked up as possibly the only real option for Jadon Sancho if he leaves Borussia Dortmund in the summer transfer window.
This is the analysis of the situation from trusted journalist Duncan Castles, who explained on the Transfer Window Podcast why links with Liverpool and Chelsea might be as strong as they seem.
MORE: Chelsea line up surprise transfer raid on Manchester United
Sancho is undoubtedly one of the biggest talents of his generation, and looks set for a big future in the game after his rapid improvement during his time at Dortmund.
The likes of Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea would be lucky to have him, but Castles says the Blues agreeing a deal for Ajax winger Hakim Ziyech, as confirmed on their official site today, makes it unlikely they’ll also go in for Sancho.
The England international has also been linked with Liverpool, but Castles says that while the Reds are interested in him, they’re worried about the cost of the deal and his likely wage demands which could cause tension in the Anfield dressing room.
This, he believes, possibly only leaves United as a real option, though we imagine the likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona might have something to say about that!
Jadon Sancho looks set for a big summer transfer away from Borussia Dortmund
Castles said: “There’s an indication that Dortmund are ready to sell in the summer, they’ve got the development they think they can get from him, they’ve raised his value to the point where they think they can get over 100m euros. The agents are trying to get the best environment for Sancho.
“With Ziyech signing for Chelsea, it makes it difficult for Chelsea to sign Sancho. Lampard was opposed to bringing Lampard in the January window and didn’t want that scale of transfer to be associated with him as his first big deal at Chelsea.
“Liverpool like Jadon Sancho a lot but they’re briefing that they don’t want to overpay for him and don’t want to overpay his wages for his type and age which could cause dressing room problems. So that probably limits Sancho’s realistic option to Manchester United now.”
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This will be music to the ears of Man Utd fans as the 19-year-old would surely hugely improve this struggling Red Devils squad.
Liverpool fans, by contrast, may well not be that bothered as they already have probably the best front three in world football in Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
While Sancho would be another exciting addition to that line up, there’s surely not the same need as there is at United for them to over-spend on the teenage forward.
The post Manchester United tipped as most likely transfer destination for Jadon Sancho due to major Liverpool concern appeared first on CaughtOffside.
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Here’s a conclude: how do footballers do what the hell is do? | Gregg Bakowski
It is not often a footballer expands on what goes through their thoughts when they play at the highest level but when they do it is fascinating
The concerning the relationship between footballers and the media is frequently a extremely naive one. Before a coincide a actor is asked what their hopes are for the challenge onward. Their explanation invariably has them looking forward to the game while perhaps including a bit deflection when steered towards a topic who are able to to be translated into controversy. In post-match interrogations actors are asked how they feel about the result and perhaps something they did in the accord. Through shortfall of age, tirednes or media practice, we often memorize little beyond what feeling a actor is knowing at that moment. This is often no flaw of the footballer or even the interviewer. Thoughtfulness is not provide support to football. Consequently, it is rare to truly understand how a participate does what they do.
What are they envisioning when they are moving their own bodies in a way that enables them to open up cavity where a millisecond ago there appeared to be none? We take for granted, whether sat high up in the digests or when watching on television, how quickly a footballer is able to calculate gesture and day. Our perspective is a false one. The predicament of what they are doing is skewed by interval. When a truly remarkable purpose is scored, such as Mesut zils elegant winner against Ludogorets, it is often is complemented by exaggeration or cliches. When deeper thought is given to how a piece of footballing splendour is crafted, the players take on it is usually overlooked, perhaps because were not used to hearing anything from them that tells us something new. Even after reading a 75,000 -word autobiography we can be left wondering, beyond fitness, proficiency or tactical comprehension, what it is that a actor contains that gives them an advantage over others. Relationships, defies, achievements and altercations help build narrative within their life story , not introspection. “Theres” exclusions of course, such as Andrea Pirlos I Think Hence I Play, which intentionally plays up to Pirlos reputation as a cerebral midfield maestro.
On the subject of delivering he paints a picture of a playing realm that isnt so much a fraught mass of moving limbs and testosterone but a series of shapeshifting breaches of which it is his enterprise to thread the ball through.
Ive understood that there is a secret: I see video games in a different way. Its a question of viewpoints, of having a wide field of regard. Being able to see the bigger portrait. Your classic midfielder examines downfield and ensure the sends. Ill focus instead on the space between me and them where I can work the ball through. Its more an issue of geometry than tactics. Andrea Pirlo
Dennis Bergkamp, one of video games great thinkers, has alluded to exhaustive modern-day coaching as one of the reasons participates dont use their own the terms of reference of insight enough. They dont have to think for themselves any more, he told Amy Lawrence. It is all done for them. Its a problem. If they get a new statu, they look to someone as if to say, What do I have to do now? And while Bergkamp was talking specific about the ability to think critically in the midst of video games, his comments pass us a clue as to the lack of faith footballers have in their own ability to self-reflect.
Throughout his more youthful years, Wayne Rooney was pigeon-holed as an instinctive street-footballer, fearless and reliant on playing off the cuff. Hed have been the last being you would have picked to give careful consideration to how it is that he has been capable of doing things on a tar which go beyond the vast majority of other professionals. But in a uncover interrogation with David Winner he explained that he relies heavily on visualisation to prepare for parallels and his thoughts as moves develop can often move into the future. Winner “ve opened” that rarest of things: a opening to the in-game footballers mind and gave us a fascinating glimpse of how the cogs move.
I go and ask the kit man what emblazon were wearing if its red-faced surface, grey abruptlies, grey socks or pitch-black socks. Then I lie in bed the darknes before video games and visualise myself tallying points or doing well. Youre trying to put yourself in that minute and trying to prepare yourself, to have a remembering before video games. I dont know if youd call it visualising or dreaming, but Ive always done it, my whole life. When I was younger, I used to visualise myself tallying wonder objectives, substance like that. From 30 gardens out, dribbling through units. You used to visualise yourself doing all that, and when youre playing professionally, you realise its important for your cooking. Its like when you play snooker, youre always remembering three or four hits down the line. With football, its like that. Youve got to think three or four moves where the ball is going to come to down the line. And the very best footballers, theyre able to see that before much more quickly than a lot of other footballers you need to know where everyone is on the tone. You need to see everything. Wayne Rooney
Did Wayne Rooney visualise this goal against Manchester City or just anticipate the cross quicker than anybody else did? Image: Matthew Peters/ Man Utd via Getty Images
I once tried to razz this profundity of thought out of Alan Shearer when asking how he tallied a aim that he considered to be his greatest but, even after knocking on the door in as numerous new and interesting rooms as I could muster, he wouldnt let me in: That volley was one in a hundred I belief, he said. Its an answer that could have been given by thousands of other footballers who perhaps dont understand that what they are able to do and the rush at which they do it is extraordinary.
In the same room that pilots construe “the worlds” in slow-motion, the very best footballers are often spoken about as having this hyper-developed gumption when it comes to digesting multiple flows. Anyone who previously played with or against a former or current professional who has taken a step down to play an amateur activity, can see this first-hand. A musician such as Jan Molby, even when bellying out of his shirt and years past retirement, can run a game without moving. This is all part of the prowes of understanding space. Xavi, while has become a much more energetic proponent of this ship, stirred football sound like a manic competition of Tetris in a brilliant interview with Sid Lowe in 2011.
Think promptly, look for seats. Thats what I do: look for openings. All date. Im ever appearing. All daytime, the working day. Here? No. There? No. Public who havent played dont always realise how hard that is. Space, space, opening. Its like being on the PlayStation. I believe shit, the defenders here, play it there. I visualize the opening and pass. Thats what I do. Xavi
With socks down round his ankles and his play seemingly shortfall the gloss of other upper-echelon participates, Thomas Mller can give off the intuition of has become a forward who plays in the moment, never stopping for long enough to consider what it is that has induced him so effective. But in fact the opposite is true. In a piece for Eight by Eight magazine by Uli Hesse, the Bayern Munich player addrest astutely about the significance he targets on timing. And although he clearly checks his persona as being different to a metronomic passer such as Xavi or Pirlo, he considers his near-perfect punctuality in the six-yard casket as being a product of his ability to calculate intervals in a razor-sharp fad. In reality, he has thought about his role on the football lurch to such an extent that he has invented a refer for it.
Im an translator of opening. Every good, successful actor, specially an attacking actor, has a well-developed feel of seat and occasion. Its not a phenomenon you exclusively find in two or three people on ground. Every great striker knows its all about the timing between members of the public who plays the pass and the person making a run into the right zone. Its good-for-nothing new when you make a pass, you dont ever do it for yourself. Often you do it to open the door for a team-mate. Thomas Mller
So it would appear that some of the very best footballers, when made to feel comfy and requested the right queries, view their visual to better understand seat and experience as being vital components in putting them at the top of their profession. But what about one of the best, a participate who moved all over the pitch in the unhurried way of someone who had “ve been there” and done it a thousand times before, even at a relatively young age. In the fascinating documentary, Zidane: A 21 st Century Portrait, the Real Madrid legend and World Cup winner conjures an image of himself as an ethereal attendance on the football pitching with psychic powers.
Zinedine Zidane knew exactly what was going to happen.
I can imagine that I can sounds the ticking of a watch I recollect playing in another place, at another time, when something amazing happened. Person overtook the ball to me, and before even touching it, I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew I was going to score. Zinedine Zidane
There are millions of words written and spoken about football and footballers every day. Some good. Some bad. On subjects of tactics, feelings, hopes and reveries, were well gratified for. So when one of video games enormous, such as Zidane, lets us into his head mid-match even for exactly a few moments it puts out. Well done to those reporters who get us there. And kudos to the footballers who take the time to think.
The post Here’s a conclude: how do footballers do what the hell is do? | Gregg Bakowski appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.
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Jose Mourinho not fussed over Chelsea’s move for Alvaro Morata
Jose Mourinho says Chelsea’s move for Alvaro Morata was “obvious” but insists Manchester United have a “top striker” in Romelu Lukaku.
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Chelsea announced they agreed a fee with Real Madrid for Morata on Wednesday night, which Sky sources understand to be worth an initial £58m, potentially rising to £70m.
Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid when Morata broke into their first team, and a reunion at Old Trafford had looked likely until Lukaku headed to United despite reports of a return to Stamford Bridge.
“I am not interested in what Chelsea Football Club does, really,” the United boss said in Houston, after learning of Chelsea’s deal for Morata.
“We needed a striker, yes. We needed with Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) in his best conditions, we needed one to give cover, to give options.
“Him and Marcus (Rashford) was not enough and especially after Zlatan’s injury.
“We got a big player – a player that I can compare with what he was a few years ago because he worked with me a few months four or five years ago.
Romelu Lukaku got off the mark for Manchester United in a pre-season friendly against Real Salt Lake
“His development was very, very good, so we think we have a player that is now a top player in Europe.
“He has to prove it at the highest level, there is always that point. Now he has to do it for Manchester United, in Champions League matches but I think he has amazing qualities.
“I think it was obvious Chelsea would sign a striker, especially after the situation with the manager and Diego (Costa).
“It was clear that they were going to get a striker, they did it with Alvaro and Alvaro is a very good player for them.”
Manchester United are close to agreeing a fee with Inter Milan for Ivan Perisic, according to Sky sources, although the sum has been a sticking point in protracted negotiations between the clubs.
Manchester United are close to agreeing a deal with Inter Milan for Ivan Perisic, according to Sky sources
Mourinho would ideally like to sign a further two players but has come to the terms with the fact only one may arrive in what he describes as an inflated market.
“Everybody knows because I said it, I would like four players and asked for four players,” Mourinho added.
“I’m ready to go from four to three because the market is difficult, because some clubs they think the market is different from others.
“We are not a club that is not ready to buy and buy and buy non-stop. We are not a club that is ready to pay what clubs wants us to pay, so I am ready to go from four to three.
“With these three, I just give a better balance to the team, to the squad and better conditions to compete.”
Jose ready for 15 years at Utd
Jose Mourinho wants to emulate Sir Alex Ferguson’s legacy at Manchester United and remain in charge for 15 years
Kyle Walker is set to make his first Manchester City appearance at the Houston Texans’ NRG Stadium – the first Manchester derby on foreign soil – having arrived from Tottenham in a deal that could reach £50m.
Asked if that sum had surprised him, Mourinho said: “It doesn’t surprise me, really.
“It doesn’t surprise me because I keep saying there is big economic power in every club that allows the clubs to say no or to say, ‘You pay what I want or you don’t get it’.
“I can imagine that Man City would like to pay £25m for Kyle. I can imagine that.
Kyle Walker told Sky Sports News he is not worried about the £50m fee Manchester City paid Tottenham for him
“But I am sure that they knocked on Spurs’ door and were told, ‘This is the price’. If you don’t pay, you don’t get.
“Then you have the option to pay or have the option to say no, so the market will be always what people ask and what people pay.
“The strange thing is that now I am used to paying or seeing teams paying big amounts for big players – and now everybody is paying big amounts for good players.
“There is a difference between good players and big players, and now the figures go really crazy also for normal players.”
The post Jose Mourinho not fussed over Chelsea’s move for Alvaro Morata appeared first on Newsflash247.
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Transfer news LIVE: Barcelona and Real Madrid given Neymar ultimatum, Man Utd decision | Football | Sport
Transfer news LIVE: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leeds updates (Image: GETTY)
Transfer news LIVE: Friday August 23
Barcelona and Real Madrid have been told to make their final offers for Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar
Manchester United have opted to cool their interest in free agent veteran striker Fernando Llorente
Arsenal boss Unai Emery has told two Gunners aces they will be allowed to leave before the window shuts
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has provided an update on what he plans to do with Tottenham loanee Jack Clarke
17:40 UPDATE: Why Chelsea to Arsenal move happened
Arsenal and Chelsea’s shock deal for David Luiz was precipitated by a dressing room incident after the Blues’ pre-season win over RB Leipzig.
According to the Independent, Frank Lampard tore into the new Arsenal signing after that 5-3 victory.
However, Luiz opted not to respond to the criticism, leaving his relationship with the new Chelsea boss on a knife edge.
When Arsenal came calling late in the window, Chelsea decided to let go of the defender rather than let the bond deteriorate further.
Transfer news LIVE: David Luiz joined Arsenal from London rivals Chelsea on deadline day (Image: GETTY)
17:30 UPDATE: Real Madrid boss reacts to Neymar questions
Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane is sick of being asked about Los Blancos potentially signing Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain.
“We have a game tomorrow, I am just thinking about that,” Zidane said on Friday, ahead of the showdown with Real Valladolid.
“That’s the only thing we should think of, players, coach, staff, nothing else. I want Sep 2 to come as soon as possible. So these questions will end.”
Asked again, Zidane said: “I am just concerned about tomorrow’s game, nothing else.”
Transfer news LIVE: Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane is tired of being asked about Neymar (Image: GETTY)
17:20 UPDATE: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Man Utd scapegoat claims
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was reluctant to say too much when asked about Romelu Lukaku claiming he was made a scapegoat at Old Trafford.
“I’m not going to dive into that one,” Solskjaer said. “I think that interview was made before the summer when he was a Man United player so I think I’d rather not.”
Lukaku reckons he, Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba were wrongly made to bear the brunt of criticism during their shared stint at United.
United offloaded the Belgian to Inter Milan earlier this month and would ideally like to do the same with misfit forward Sanchez.
Transfer news LIVE: Romelu Lukaku left Manchester United for Inter Milan this summer (Image: GETTY)
17:15 UPDATE: Jurgen Klopp fumes over transfer window
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is not too happy about the Premier League transfer window shutting three weeks earlier than those across Europe.
“I don’t care when it closes, but it must close at the same time. That was the idea in the first place,” Klopp said.
“They spoke about finishing it before the season starts, good idea, but only England did it. That makes no sense. Can somebody explain what is the benefit for the Premier League?
“We don’t really have a problem but for other teams, their key players are still on the market and everything can happen.
“You want a team together and focused on the future, but that cannot happen when there is a door open.
“I don’t understand why this decision is not already reviewed at least. It was a good idea but it didn’t work out.”
Transfer news LIVE: Jurgen Klopp is less than impressed by the range of transfer deadline days (Image: GETTY)
17:10 UPDATE: Chelsea ace targeted for shock move
Chelsea goalkeeper Willy Caballero could be handed the chance to leave his bench-warming duties behind – to do the same job at Real Madrid.
Caballero is back-up to Kepa Arrizabalaga at Stamford Bridge but should see some game time in the cup competitions this season.
Real, meanwhile, have Keylor Navas in the same role but could soon lose Thibaut Courtois’ deputy to Paris Saint-Germain.
Mundo Deportivo reckon Real are weighing up how to replace Navas should he leave, with Caballero and AC Milan’s Pepe Reina decent options.
Transfer news LIVE: Willy Caballero could swap the Chelsea bench for Real Madrid’s (Image: GETTY)
17:05 UPDATE: Real Madrid plan Neymar presentation
Real Madrid want to unveil Neymar as their latest blockbuster signing next week as they look to beat Barcelona to the Paris Saint-Germain forward.
Neymar is desperate to call time on his stint at the Parc des Princes having failed to hit the heights he imagined in France.
Real are going toe-to-toe with Barcelona as they former Santos star looks to return to La Liga, where he enjoyed four successful seasons.
Sport reckon Real are already planning to present the Brazilian in front of their adoring fans, with an event at the Bernabeu lined up for next week.
Transfer news LIVE: Real Madrid are gearing up to present Neymar at the Bernabeu (Image: GETTY)
17:00 UPDATE: Leeds stance on Tottenham loanee Jack Clarke
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa insists Jack Clarke is still in his plans despite the winger enduring a tough return from Tottenham.
Clarke was immediately loaned back to Leeds after signing for Spurs but is yet to be included in their squad in the Championship.
Bielsa said: “For me he’s an important player who has very good individual skills, one v one.
“There are reasons enough to say nothing is special about why he was not in the 18 players in the last two games.
“We have a lot of matches in the month of August. Very probably the next game on Tuesday a lot of players who didn’t play before will be in the squad.
“In this moment I am focusing on three wingers. They are putting in good performances, but Clarke will be in or be a substitute of one of them.”
Transfer news LIVE: Jack Clarke has only featured in the Carabao Cup for Leeds this season (Image: GETTY)
16:35 UPDATE: Arsenal to axe duo
Arsenal gaffer Unai Emery has opened the door for Shkodran Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny to move on before the transfer window slams shut.
Emery said: “We now have some players who know their situation. For example, Elneny and Mustafi know their position in the squad and I really want the players to be happy here, I want them to be protagonists.
“Last year with Mustafi and Mo, when they didn’t play they weren’t happy. I spoke with them a lot of times last year and in pre-season, and I think it is positive for them to leave and sign for another team where they can be protagonists, be happy and continue their careers.
“They are very big players but for one circumstance or another, they are going to have less chances to show their capacity or to be happy with us and the minutes they play in matches.
“But they know the situation and really, really I am wishing the best for them – and I think now the best for them is to be protagonists in another team, to sign and get another challenge with another team. We respect them, and they are training with us, but they know their situation.”
Transfer news LIVE: Arsenal boss Unai Emery wants rid of Shkodran Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny (Image: GETTY)
16:05 UPDATE: Man Utd decision on Fernando Llorente
Manchester United are not going to make their interest in free agent Fernando Llorente concrete with an offer no longer on the cards.
Llorente has been touted as an option for United after they waved goodbye to fellow hefty hitman Romelu Lukaku earlier this month.
The Spaniard is available at no cost having left Tottenham when his contract expired at the end of last season.
However, the Daily Mail report United are not going to table a proposal to the hitman, who shot to fame with Athletic Bilbao in his homeland.
Transfer news LIVE: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will not be taking Fernando Llorente to Manchester United (Image: GETTY)
Transfer news LIVE: Barcelona and Real Madrid have been told to slap in final bids for Neymar (Image: GETTY)
15:35 UPDATE: Barcelona and Real Madrid get Neymar order
Barcelona and Real Madrid were this week handed an ultimatum over the future of Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar, claims Guillem Balague.
“Barcelona AND Real Madrid have been asked to put a final offer before midday [on Friday]. Juventus also in the equation,” Balague tweeted.
“The latest twist: in the last few days the relationship between #Neymar, his father/representative and #PSG has improved dramatically (in a VERY positive way).
“Real willing to offer Bale (but he doesn’t want to go) and Jovic, but PSG only want Vinicius (and Real don’t want to let him go).
“Real saying they are not talking to PSG… But they are big time! Barcelona pushing hard as they feel Neymar getting away.”
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MICHAEL was fourteen when the 1966-67 got underway. He loved the Celtic and that season he kept a diary. Tonight you can begin reading a diary of a teenager who attended the games, home and away, on his supporters bus from Coatbridge. Little did her know it when he started his diary but he was putting pen to paper about his own personal road to Lisbon.
This is not memories of that time, this is a day by day account of going to the football that season.
Part 2 tomorrow morning, you’ll be hooked by then! Here goes…
A BHOY’S DIARY
30 July 1966
We saw the World Cup Final on the TV today. It was live too- not like the one in 1962 – we had to wait until the next day then to get the pictures from South America. We have been watching all the games on television. I think it is brilliant but Dad is not so sure- he thinks if you get too much on the tele then people will stop going to the games.
About 5 minutes after the kick-off I had to go into the kitchen to get a drink of ginger. Mum was there – she is not that interested in football. She was not looking happy. Did not think that us laddies should be supporting Germany after what happened to Dad in the war. I knew he was a POW. I have seen the marks on his body but the war seems a long time ago. I had not thought of it like that before.
Maybe we should think again about supporting Germany. I went back into the living room to watch the game with that thought in my mind. Just as I got back in Helmut Haller scored for Germany – Dad was up out of his seat yelling “Yes Ya Beauty” Wonder what Mum would have thought?
We were all cheering just at the end when Germany scored again but England won in extra time. Dad said the third goal never crossed the line and we all agreed.
Maybe there will be a photo in the papers tomorrow to show it. At the end Dad, Gerard and Jim went out of the room but I stayed to watch the World Cup being presented even though I can’t stand that Nobby Stiles.
Imagine if you could see a Scottish team winning a big Cup on TV?
6 August 1966
Well what a day – We thumped Manchester Utd 4-1.
That wee rat Nobby Stile was up to his dirty stuff again but we showed them. And a big crowd too – must have been over 50,000 there today. Me and Peter Dickson right in the middle of the Celtic End. The new Jungle roof was up – some people in the Jungle were even joining in the singing – Never heard that before.
Lots of banners there too – Dad said it was good to see the flags and banners back again. There was one designed like a Union Jack but Green, White and Orange instead of Red, White and Blue. Lots to talk about back at school next week. And I got that Weekly News Colour magazine. Glossy pictures from last season with all the results and us winning the League.
Also had a page about the European Cup we will be in. Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Anderlecht are all in it. The final is in Lisbon on Wednesday 24 May next year. It will be on the tele no doubt.
13 August 1966
Got soaked today. It was pouring all day. At least when I went to the Public Trial game at Parkhead on Tuesday I could get under cover but not at Tynecastle. Went on the Kirkwood bus again with John Fagan, his da, his cousin and his uncle.
Traffic was bad when we got to Edinburgh. Somebody said we would miss the kick off and me and John got up out of the seat to see what was happening up the road. His dad said “no Panic- just remember the 3 C’s- cool, calm and collected.”
He was right and all. We had to step on it going up the road but we made the kick off.
Only about 25,000 there but no way we could get under the cover. Looked like a lot of Hearts fans in there anyway so just as well standing at the Gorgie Road end. Had to keep wiping my specs to see. John said I should fit windae wipers. But I could see the game all right.
Wee Joe scored 2. Cost me 5 shillings! No Boys Gate tickets. Last year I got the train to Tynecastle and we walked back to Haymarket after the game. Today it was the other direction back to the buses. “Watch out going under the bridge” says the uncle. “Hearts fans sometimes go up on top and throw bricks and bottles down,”- was OK the day though.
Hail Hail sounded great echoing in the walls of the bridge.
24 August 1966
My first win at Ibrox last night.
Missed the start though. We had a double decker bus last night and it was packed.
Tom Tumilty came along too. John’s cousin was telling us how he had heard the wee Huns in the school next to him singing “We all live in an orange submarine”.
Took ages to get there. Parked near Helen St. We were all walking to the ground at a fair pace but me and Tom decided to run. When we got to Edmiston Drive it was mobbed. Thousands trying to get in the turnstiles and no order in the queues.
We were pushing and shoving as best we could. We heard the roar for the teams coming out and still nowhere near the gates. Then a wee bit later another roar – It was from the Celtic end – we’d scored!
The mounted polis were there then. Somebody said they should have been there ages ago. Another guy says it was because the Polis wanted an 8’clock kick off but the Huns insisted on 7.30 and that is why the coppers didn’t get it sorted sooner. We missed the first half hour near enough. We ran up the big stairs to the top of the terracing.
Just as we got there I looked on the pitch and saw wee Bobby Lennox swing his leg at the ball. Bang! Into the net – 2 up. Second half the wee man got another 2. He is so fast the Huns can’t catch him.
We were singing “we’ve just sunk an orange submarine” on the way home.
Dad was beaming when I got home – there were highlights on Scotsport so I saw the first goal too. The paper this morning said there was about 80,000 there and the headline was “Rangers Torpedoed” Everyone calling Bobby Lennox the Buzz Bomb at school today.
PART 2 – tomorrow morning. Please share Part 1.
Written in 1966 by a 14 year old Mike Maher, 51 years later he included his diary in the CQN Books’ bestseller, the wonderful In The Heat of Lisbon which is out now on CQNBookstore.com – there are less that 100 copies of this Lisbon tribute book left. Order with CQN’s authentic Jock Stein Lisbon 1967 t-shirt and get both for just £19.67, while stocks last – see below.
http://ift.tt/2qNxKFE
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If Liverpool can continue this ridiculous run they’re on, they’re sure to go down as one of the greatest teams of all time, at least in English football.
Jurgen Klopp’s seemingly unstoppable side have already made the best ever start to a season in Europe’s top five leagues, and have Arsenal’s unbeaten record in their sights, whilst also still remaining in all three competitions that could see them match Manchester United’s famous 1998/99 treble victory.
MORE: European football expert claims Liverpool are leading the race for €60m Bundesliga star
There’s a long way to go yet, though, so we can’t realistically talk this Liverpool team up as legendary just at the moment, but it’s an excuse to look back and debate the other great teams of the Premier League era.
Read on to see who our writers picked as their favourites, and let us know who your pick would be…
Mark Brus – Man Utd 1998/99
As an Arsenal fan, it pains me to snub the Invincibles, but the achievements of that Manchester United treble-winning side are unique and make them surely the most impressive champions of all time.
There’s some revisionism about that side now, with people noting that they finished with a relatively low points total, just a point ahead of runners-up Arsenal, but these were different times, before bankrolled clubs could stockpile all the best players and thrash every opponent by five or six goals on a regular basis.
This was a more even league, and a genuine two-horse title race between United and a great Arsenal team that pushed them to the final day. And while City’s 2017/18 side racked up more points, scored more goals and finished miles ahead of the competition, it is surely more impressive for a team to hold their nerve knowing that any slip-up could cost them.
United did that in not just one competition, but three, and did so with a relatively small squad by today’s standards, with star players missing in big games by the end of the campaign, most notably Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, both absent for the Champions League final. Imagine how much Guardiola, Klopp and co. would complain if they had to go into such a big game without two of their star men now – we’d never hear the end about how overworked players are, even though the number of games are the same and the squads far bigger.
There is simply no comparison – that United side won it all, and at the end of the day there’s really nothing much more impressive than that in football.
Sumeet Paul – Man City 2017/18
100 points, 106 goals scored and just 27 conceded. 32 wins from 38 games and 19 points clear of their nearest rivals. The numbers from the 2017/18 campaign tell their own story as Manchester City set a new standard under Pep Guardiola not seen before both in terms of results and performances.
The relentless nature of their pursuit of greatness was something special to witness, and while critics and detractors will no doubt point to the City chequebook and investment Guardiola was backed with, it’s still a challenge in itself to put all that together and show consistent brilliance.
To then follow that up with 98 points last season to claim back-to-back titles, winning their last 14 consecutive games to fend off a brilliant Liverpool side who are running away with the title this year, it’s difficult to overlook just how impressive that City squad was.
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Jaikuran Randhawa – Chelsea 2004/05
Chelsea’s 2004/05 side have to down as one of the best teams in Premier League history. Jose Mourinho, in his first season in charge, led the Blues to the title by getting an impressive 95 points on the table.
Defensive-minded Mourinho made things so tight at the back that the Blues finished the season by conceding a record low of just 15 goals.
The west London outfit lost just one game the entire season, ironically it was Nicolas Anelka who helped Manchester City to a 1-0 win over the team that he’d go on to become a crucial player for.
Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho in 2004/05
Current Blues boss Frank Lampard actually played every game of the season to help his team to the title. This had the perfect blend of discipline, flair and the ability to turn up on the big stage.
Lampard, Terry, Cech, Gudjohnsen, Makelele and Drogba were all key figures in this team. There’s no way that we mention the top-flight’s best ever teams without giving these Chelsea boys their credit.
Jason Pettigrove – Arsenal 2003/04
As Liverpool steamroller their way to their first Premier League title, it was obvious that the Reds were going to be compared to the best EPL title-winning teams of the past.
Whilst this well-oiled machine will certainly receive the plaudits this season, they can’t yet lay claim to being the greatest-ever side.
That title remains with Arsenal’s Invincibles and will do even if Jurgen Klopp’s men equal the Gunners’ unbeaten season.
Why?
The answer is a very simple one; the fact that the north Londoners earned every single point.
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Whether Liverpool fans want to hear it and agree with it or not, the luck the Reds have had, particularly with VAR, has tainted some of their wins. I’d even stick my neck out and say that some of them weren’t even deserved.
That Arsenal side, in all its majesty, never gave an inch and were rarely troubled throughout 2003/04.
Henry in his pomp, Bergkamp, Vieira, Pires, Ljungberg, Campbell et al… joyous.
Tom McNeil – Leicester City 2015/16
This team will go down as the greatest Premier League winning side for the shock and surprise that it brought to everyone, but let’s not forget they were incredible on the pitch too.
Every single player had been rejected or had a point to prove, from Jamie Vardy’s well known story to Riyad Mahrez having to steal a bike to escape a trial at St Mirren because Paisley was just too bleak – every player had an interesting story.
Even looking at some of the key players Marc Albrighton had fizzled out at Villa while Nathan Dyer made the “sideways” move from Swansea City at the start of the season, but every single player had an important role to play.
Leicester City’s 2015/16 title triumph is one of the most incredible stories in football history
It’s often forgotten that they could play with relentless energy and steamroller a team off the pitch, but they could also sit deep and hammer superior teams on the break too. They morphed from winning games comfortably to a run of edgy 1-0 wins, but the title never actually looked in doubt after Christmas.
The spine of Schmeichel, Huth and Morgan, Drinkwater and Kante with Vardy through the middle was both solid and productive, and it’s good enough to take on anyone.
Due to their ability to morph depending on the opposition, the way they brought joy to so many and the stories behind so many of their star players, Leicester City are the best of the Premier League champions.
Neelabhra Roy – Man Utd 1998/99
When it comes to the best Premier League team of all-time, it is very difficult to choose between Manchester United’s 98/99 team and Arsenal’s Invincibles. For me, the former narrowly edges out the latter.
Going unbeaten in a 38-match season is an extraordinary feat from Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal which is why they are among the greatest sides in English football history. However, United had a relatively better team. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side had some world-class players that included the likes of Peter Schmeichel, Jaap Stam, Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and of course, the two strikers Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole who had a combined 35 goals.
This side will remain immortal in Premier League folklore and are the best to win the competition.
Magnus Eriksen – Man Utd 2007/08
An underrated side in Premier League folklore, my pick has to be the Manchester United team that won three titles in a row between 2006 and 2009, but since I can only pick one I’ll go with the 2007/08 side.
On paper, it’s hard to think of a stronger squad of players, with a front three of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez, and a defence containing Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, all at their peak. This team could do it all – win ugly when needed, play teams off the park with some stunning football, and they did it whilst being hounded down by not just one, but two big title challengers.
In the end, that MUFC side finished just two points ahead of runners-up Chelsea, who themselves were just two points ahead of third-placed Arsenal. For much of that campaign, all three teams looked in with a decent shout of the title, and it’s not often we’ve been able to say that.
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United also had to get past some big names in the Champions League, beating Lyon, Roma, and Barcelona on their way to the final, where they saw off Chelsea. An almost identical group of players also made the final the following season whilst picking up another title, so the consistency this lot showed over the course of three years was truly remarkable.
And best of all? It was done without lavish and expensive signings, with the likes of Rooney and Ronaldo signed as youngsters and given time to develop into the world-beaters they eventually became, while Vidic and Evra were smart purchases on the cheap, and homegrown players like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Wes Brown and John O’Shea were key members of the squad.
Perhaps as time goes on, people will appreciate this elite Man Utd side a little more.
The post From Man Utd’s treble winners to Arsenal’s Invincibles: CaughtOffside writers choose their best PL team ever as Liverpool look set to join the elite appeared first on CaughtOffside.
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Tottenham and Arsenal north London derby draw highlights Man Utd transfer mistake | Football | Sport
Tottenham star Christian Eriksen tormented Arsenal during the north London derby with a performance that showed Manchester United exactly what they’re missing.
The Denmark international has been the source of much speculation in recent times. With his contract up at the end of the campaign, Spurs and their supporters have feared him jumping ship.
He nearly did, too. Manchester United wanted to sign Eriksen late in the transfer window before pulling the plug. They thought he wanted to go to Real Madrid and, as a result, had doubts over whether a deal should take place.
Tottenham have been similarly fearful over Eriksen and whether he has the appetite to perform while still lusting for a new challenge elsewhere.
However, on this evidence, Eriksen looks committed to the cause.
The Denmark international was back to his very best against Arsenal, delivering his finest showing for the club so far this season.
Arsenal went with combative characters in the middle of the park in the hope that it would shackle the Tottenham star.
Granit Xhaka and Mateo Guendouzi are no pushovers – but both players were left powerless to prevent the midfielder from waving his magic wand throughout much of the contest.
Arsenal started the game brightly but it was Eriksen who extinguished signs of fire.
The 27-year-old opened the scoring early on, reacting quickest after Bernd Leno had spilled Erik Lamela’s extremely tame effort.
That’s what good playmakers do. They play behind the striker and, when there isn’t one around, it’s left for them to take any chance that falls.
How United could do with a player like that.
On Saturday, the Red Devils dropped points for the third Premier League match in a row. For the third game in a row, they were dreadful on the eye.
United don’t have a good playmaker. Jesse Lingard blows hot and cold, Juan Mata is too slow and Angel Gomes is, for now, not ready for the first team.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer desperately needs one. His side are so flat, so uninspiring.
For all of United wanting to take the high ground when it comes to Eriksen, there’s no doubt the Denmark international would be a sizeable upgrade on anything they have at present.
Imagine the Tottenham star supplying passes for Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial to run on to? Because nobody else can do that at the moment.
Eriksen was back to his best for Tottenham against Arsenal.
And, for all of his desire to leave the club, Spurs must ensure he sticks it out for a little while longer.
They’re definitely better with, rather than without, Eriksen in their ranks. Without him, they may have lost rather than drew against Arsenal.
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