SLAVEN PAYS THE BILL-IC, GUARDIOLA ESCAPES THE CHASING PACK
CHELSEA RUMOURS
JOSE MOURINHO AND UNITED
IS PEP THE NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN?
And so Manchester City remain the team to beat in this year’s EPL.
It’s taken Pep Guardiola two years to stamp the notebooks with his signature football : pass, move, pass, pace, finish and win titles.
Reminds me of when a certain Arsene Wenger took the premiership by storm several years ago, or when Jose Mourinho raised the bars to unbelievable heights in the Premiership almost two decades ago with direct, success oriented football, winning back to back titles.
So is there a new Sheriff in town? Will Pep’s football move the goalposts in English football forever, or will Pep’s boys just about see once again, how cruel the English weather can be in the ‘ember’ months and new year November, December and January.
Eight points clear and thirty three already played for, is a fantastic achievement but as they say, this is just the beginning of the English cold weather months.
Can this City team go unbeaten?
Aguero has Jesus. Debruyne and Silva have Silva and Toure and Gundogan. Sterling and Sane compete for goals. Kompany has Stones and Otamendi. Walker has Danilo. Mendy has Delph and everywhere you look there are options of quality.
Who can stop this team from its glory march?
The fun starts on the 18th, after the international break.
UNITED BRIDGE THE GAP BUT STILL SHORT AGAINST THE BIG BOYS.
When Jose Mourinho took charge of Manchester United, there was an aura of optimism around Old Trafford. Finally! The die hard United fan sighed, they were getting a serial winner who would take them back to the glory days.
I argued at the time, considering the squad he inherited (mostly not United type of players), considering the previous six transfer windows and considering the age of the most experienced players ‘remaining’ from the glory days: Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick.
After Liverpool game, the media dared to question Jose and his tactics. Against Tottenham, they waited for his team to be run over by Tottenham and thanks to the absence of Harry Kane, the pundits were once again proved wrong. Then cane Chelsea and at the bridge the first fifteen minutes saw United come out of its shell with Valencia and Young playing so high up the pitch – reminiscence of Mcgregor’s opening rounds against Mayweather a few months ago – but soon enough, Chelsea recovered from the shock and began to show why this United team still need a full team, devoid of injuries, to even try to go toe to toe with the big boys.
Can’t blame United for trying but after the initial huff and puff by United, only one team looked like scoring for most of the game.
It was a football lesson for the United midfield for the most part as Fabregas, Hazard and Bakayoko overpowered Mkhitaryan and Herrera.
The game at the bridge just proves once again that Jose is still right; this team has taken a big step forward from sixth or fifth position in the premiership in the last few years to a solid top three or four team, but most probably not yet the championship winning team that United fans are clamouring for.
Without Pogba the team has lacked strength, creativity, robustness and power down the middle. There is no United midfielder that can keep that ball for seconds and it’s okay against the other smaller teams, but not against the big boys.
Jose has used two transfer windows (surprised he didn’t use last January as well) and as I said from the beginning, he has four to five transfer windows to get a Jose Mourinho team. The club has to complete the transition from the ‘old boys’ from Fergie era and inject youths and a couple of world class players, then United would be ready for Europe and the EPL
Although with Mourinho, he is always capable of delivering against all odds, I think the Europa league and Capital One wins covered many sins from the previous couple of years, and I believe that Jose sees his players daily and he knows what style to adapt to get the results needed. (Let Zlatan and Pogba coma back first, should be the cry of the United faithfuls)
United stood still for years, now they’re on the march again, but it’s not time to celebrate yet as the final destination has not been reached. Not just yet.
SLAVEN PAYS THE BILL AS WEST HAM MOVE ON
Someone had to pay the bill for WestHam’s dismal run of games, and it was Coach Slaven Billic, put to the sword on Tuesday morning as WestHam finally shut the door on the tenure of the manager after eleven games.
The handwriting was on the wall when Dimitri Payet left the club last season and
WestHam never truly recovered from his exit. This summer, the Club decided to bring in ten new players, and everything that could go wrong at WestHam started to go wrong: very little points, lost games, abysmal defending, disorganised team and all.
After DeBier, Shakespeare and Koeman, Billic is the fourth EPL manager to get the boot this season.
Just like Koeman who spent £140m and brought in several players, maybe bringing in a lot of players is sometimes not the solution, spending money too is not always the best solution as we have seen with both managers, you need to have the ‘recipe’ to create a good meal with the players, to win games, win titles and to fan taste.
We Wish Slaven all the best for the future.
CONTE AND DAVID LUIZ ENGAGE AS EMENALO QUITS THE BRIDGE
There have been rumours about the unhappy coach, the training methods, tactics, player power and unrest of late.
Add Conte’s comments about the sale of Lukaku, lack of funds to spend in the summer, the exit of Diego Costa, the departure of Mike Emenalo, and there seems to be a lot going on behind the scenes at the Bridge.
“He has to work hard to come into the team. If he does not, he stays in the stands or on the bench” This was Conte in response to reporter’s questions about David Luiz.
Each time a coach at Chelsea has taken on the players, the coach was sacrificed for the team: Villas-Boaz, Jose Mourinho
So is this skirmish with Luiz a one off, or the beginning of another Hollywood soap opera at Cobham?
Is this the beginning of another power tussle at the bridge?