Posts in Premier League

Manchester United vs. West Ham: First game of the season.

Premier League

What a beautiful way to start the new Premier League season, United defeat West Ham with a great margin. The debutant Romelu Lukaku scored twice while Martial scored third past Hart and Pogba scored a 20 yard strike to make the score 4 against 0.

We couldn’t have been more impressed by Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku had an outstanding game, Matic protecting the defense effectively. “Chelsea have taken a bit of a risk letting Matic join a major title rival” says Simon Stone (BBC Sport at OT)

New Man Victor Lindelof was left out of the Manchester United squad and was seen sitting in the stands. Marcus Rashford was unlucky with his powerful shot from outside the box that hit the base of the post and back out, could have been a beautiful goal. Chicharito who played for the first time against Manchester United couldn’t show his best side to help his losing team. 

Romelu Lukaku, speaking to Sky Sports: “To play in front of such a crowd is a dream come true but most importantly is the three points.

“When you play for Manchester United, you have a job to do and mine is to score goals. It is promising.

“The manager wants me to be a leader for the team and create as much as I can. We work hard in training and it is paying off.

“The fans want to see attractive football and we have to stick to that. They will be pleased today. It is just the start; we need to keep working to the manager’s plan.”


Nemanja Matic: “It was a really important game for us to start well with the three points. They were very compact but after the first goal we had more space. I am very happy for the team and we will have more confidence going into the next game.

“The manager told me I have to do my job, Paul has to do his. I am very happy everyone gave their best against a good team. We have to continue to work like this.”

Jose Mourinho said his side would be title challengers this season.

Should Ole be the Permanent United manager?

Premier League

It was just Christmas and United had lost all hopes. Finishing in the top four almost looked unlikely, forget about competing in CL and winning FA Cup.

Who would have thought just in few months our baby faced assassin will turn the tables completely?

It would be a miracle if Manchester United finished in the top four this season this is what Mourinho said in December. The fourth position looked almost impossible, Chelsea sitting on that spot comfortably with 11 points clear of Man Utd but in just after one and half months, Ole managed to do the impossible, miracle eh?

Jose’s Pressers had become toxic and we all detested it, what is he gonna say next about the management, the players or how is he gonna embarrass the club, it was all messed up. United needed change. At first, I was sceptical about Ole, we couldn’t afford another manager who will take his time to settle with the club but Ole knew what he needed to do.

Ole’s Paris travelling squad included 12 players who were on tour last summer but did not “belong” to Jose’s United and with the same team, Ole has written history “No team in Champions League history had overturned a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.” United are the first team to do so and without their 10 first team players. Ole passed his biggest test as United manager and he did it in United way.

With 0-2 down in the first leg against PSG and limited options Ole had to build the team with young players.

20 years on from the CL comeback against Bayern in Barcelona, United repeated the history by scoring winner goal in the extra time. United eleminated the CL “favourites”

With just eight games Ole had already made it to the history books, the first manager to win all first eight games with the club. United have won 11 games out of 13 and lost just one. United are now at the 4th position 2 points ahead of Chelsea who is on the 6th position as of now. He got positivity in the club after all those media rantings and even after almost 10 first team players injured United have managed to win the games at home and away.

Ole Gunnar understands the club and knows what the fans and the club really want and most of all he understands the United way, that belief in the team and the history was missing since the departure of SAF and I feel we have found it in Ole. United are playing the way United should.

With 10 first team players missing Ole managed to get best out of players like Lukaku who was struggling to score sitters, Pereira, Smalling, Herrera, Lindelof all have improved under him. Playing the players in their natural position, pushing the full back higher so there’s no empty gap, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba playing in their favoured position. All these basic changes which were needed to get the results. Fred, the player who has been constantly struggling to keep up with the rest of the team has been improving under Ole and was impressive against PSG.

These issues he had previously mentioned to Ryan Giggs:

“I was at a game next to him, and he was pointing out to me, ‘Look at the full-backs, they’re not high enough’. Things that we were used to, things that you associate with Man United teams,” Giggs said.

‘Ok you score two, we’ll score three’ and I think he’s brought, he’s instilled that back into them that we need to score goals, we need to attack and if we’re all higher up the pitch then it just poses the opposition that question. All of a sudden teams are going from, ‘Right it’s Man United, we’ve got a chance today’ to actually, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll be defending, we’ll be deeper’.

“As a supporter, it feels like we’ve got our Manchester United back,” says Phill Neville

“Ole’s done an unbelievable job. He’s embraced everything and let the players play with a smile on their face. I think it’s impossible not to give him the job.”

Players who can fill in during injury crises for United.

Premier League

Manchester United are facing a major injury crisis at the moment after three first team players were taken off within 30 minutes all due to hamstring on Sunday against the scousers. They will now be facing Crystal Palace without 10 first team regulars.

Rashford who was taken down by Henderson in the first minute of the game had to continue after Lingard had to be taken back and is due some much needed rest, we still don’t have an update on when he will be back. Here is the list of players who can possibly start against Palace.

Here are the players who can be used in place of the unfit ones.

1. Andreas Pereira

Pereira made his Premier League debut against Tottenham Hotspur, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Juan Mata in a 3–0 win for United. He joined Spanish club Granada on loan where he scored three goals and then joined Valencia in 2017. He has proved he is worthy of playing in the red shirt more often and can be a good replacement for Herrera.

2. Diogo Dalot

Young Portuguese full-back Signed for United on a five-year contract for a fee of £19 million. Have been compared with Manchester United great Gary Neville, but is focused on writing his own history at Old Trafford. He has made just 8 appearances for the reds till now and its time he is given more chances to prove himself.

3. Scott Mc Tominay

Hailed by Ole Gunner as “new Darren Fletcher”, McTom has been a good replacement for Matic who was injured in the training session before the big game on Sunday. He acquitted himself well against a Liverpool midfield holding the fort during an extraordinary first half which saw three substitutions within 45 minutes.

4. Fred.

Solskjear haven’t played Fred despite injury crises and United fans are not liking it. The reds have potentially nine players unavailable and are unlikely to be available for the away trip to Selhurst Park on Wednesday.

McTominay was terrific against Liverpool but fans are still desperate to have Fred in the starting lineup for the next fixture.

OGS on younger players:

“They have been part of our training for a long time. Angel has been with Eng U-17s with Sancho, Foden, Hudson-Odoi. Garner is a Michael Carrick but 20 years younger, Chongy will be taking people on. They are ready.”

List of players who are injured:

“I don’t know the list that’s supposed to be injured, Matteo Darmian trained the other day, I don’t think he’ll be ready, Rojo has been training so hopefully will be involved, Rashy we’re still waiting to see how his ankle is responding to the treatment, muscle injuries are too early to think about. That’s it. There’s quite a few out.

“Phil was ill one of these days, so he’s been out for a little while as well with an illness. Luckily at centre-back, there are quite a few fit ones, Bailly, Smalling and Lindelof, the three of them are ready.”

On Valencia, Martial and Lingard:

Valencia is a bit off because he did his calf again, he’s started running, but he’s still a few weeks off. Martial is not going to be ready for this one, either, we can’t risk it. So maybe Southampton but we’re not going to risk another one too early. Jesse Lingard was eager against Liverpool. He ticked all the boxes in training, had done all the recovery work and rehab but maybe a couple of days too early. Then again, it was Liverpool and he was desperate to be part of it.

Paul Scholes believes Jose Mourinho “Engineered” his exit from Manchester United perfectly.

Premier League

Paul Scholes who played 13 seasons for United scoring 91 goals in 383 appearances is convinced that Jose Mourinho planned his sacking perfectly.

Ole Gunner Solskjaer was appointed as interim manager for Manchester United after Jose Mourinho was sacked by the club due to the poor performance of the team and disappointing results. After his sacking, the RedDevils have won six games back to back under the new manager.

Ex-United player Paul Scholes understands that he no longer wanted to be at the club, falling out with the players, speaking negatively about the club management and the players in the press conference was all part of his plan.

Ex-Manchester United player Paul Scholes.

“I felt he didn’t want to be there.

Scholes told TV2. 

“He engineered his move away perfectly in the end. His press conferences were embarrassing, so negative, it was obvious in the end the players didn’t want to play for him. The right thing happened in the end.”

“He fell out with Antonio Valencia who is the nicest man in the world. It’s impossible to fall out with Antonio Valencia,” said Scholes.

Jose Mourinho recently spoke about his time at Manchester United with beIN sports.

“We are not any more in the time where the coach by himself is powerful enough to cope and have a relationship of education and sometimes confrontation with players who are not the best professionals’, Mourinho said, ‘the coaches nowadays they need a structure.’

‘A club must have an owner or a president, a CEO or an executive director, a sports director or a football director, and then the manager. This is a structure that can cope with all the problems that modernity is bringing to all of us.

‘So, for me, a club must be very well organised to cope with this kind of situations, where the manager is only the manager and not the man who is trying to keep the discipline or who are trying to educate the players.’

He added: ‘The phrase I kept with me from Sir Alex Ferguson was, ‘the day a player is more important than the club, goodbye’. Not anymore, not anymore.

‘So I think the way to do it is for the players to find a certain balance and the balance has to be created in the relationship between the players and the manager.

Juan Mata discusses the ‘Obscene’ wages footballers earn.

Premier League

Juan Mata sat for an interview with a Spanish TV yesterday and discussed the wages he, his team mates and other footballers earn these days.

“Football is very well remunerated at this level,” Mata said. “It’s like we live in a bubble.

“With respect to the rest of society, we earn a ridiculous amount. It’s unfathomable.”

“With respect to the world of football, I earn a normal wage. But compared to 99.9% of Spain and the rest of the world, I earn an obscene amount.

“The barometer we use for measuring our salaries is comparing them to those of our team-mates and what other players are earning elsewhere.

“The barometer we use for measuring our salaries is comparing them to those of our team-mates and what other players are earning elsewhere.

“I live in a bubble. Real life is the one my friends live. They’ve had to look for work, sign on to the dole and emigrate.

“That’s normal life now. My life as a footballer is not normal. It scares me sometimes to think about just how protected I am.

“The smallest problem and someone will come and fix it for me. That’s one of the aspects in which we don’t live a normal life.”

Juan Mata about the ridiculous fees in the modern transfer window.

“I can understand what they’re talking about. The business side of football makes it seem as though the owners are now more important than the fans.

“It’s not like the football of old; there wasn’t as much press coverage before or as many interested parties looking for their cut.”

“Every player thinks he’s Maradona when he joins a big club. That happens to all of us but then you start to notice it in the younger players.

“You see kids who think they’re rock stars; wearing extravagant clothes and driving fancy cars… and sometimes you have to take them aside and have a word.”

Manchester United Players Salaries 2018.

PlayerAgeWeekly WageDealContract until
David de Gea26£200,000 2019-06-30
Sergio Romero30£50,000 2021-06-30
Lee Grant35New Signing2020-06-30 
Joel Pereira21Unconfirmed 2021-06-30
Marcos Rojo27£70,000 2019-06-30
Phil Jones25£50,000 2019-06-30
Diogo Dalot19(not confirmed)New Signing2023-06-30
Chris Smalling27£80,000 2019-06-30
Eric Bailly 23£75,000 2020-06-30
Victor Lindelof22£75,000New Signing2021-06-30
Antonio Valencia31£100,000 2019-06-30
Luke Shaw22£70,000 2018-06-30
Matteo Darmian 27£60,000 2019-06-30
Nemanja Matic29£120,000New Signing2020-06-30
Fred25£175,000New Signing2023-06-30
Ander Herrera27£75,000 2018-06-30
Marouane Fellaini30£80,000 2018-06-30
Juan Mata29£140,000New Contract2019-06-30
Jesse Lingard24£25,000 2021-06-30
Paul Pogba24£290,000 2021-06-30
Alexis Sanchez29£400,000New Signing2022-06-30
Ashley Young32£110,000 2018-06-30
Anthony Martial21£65,000 2019-06-30
Andreas Pereira21£10,000 2018-06-30
Romelu Lukaku24£200,000New Signing2022-06-30
Marcus Rashford19£20,000 2020-06-30

Ole’s test: Spurs vs United. De Gea’s brilliance and Rashford’s goal gave United sixth win in a row.

Premier League


Pogba’s brilliant pass and Rashford’s beautiful goal gave United a Much needed lead.

Ole becomes the first Manchester United manager to win six games in a row after the Reds defeated Spurs in an intense ninety-minute game at Wembley. Is Manchester United back? will they finish in top 4? the question remains the same. The performance by the red devils was their best so far this season but the result doesn’t tell the whole story, it could have gone either way if it wasn’t for some brilliance by David De Gea.

In the first half Spurs pressed in but United got control of the game putting themselves in front. A brilliant cross from Paul Pobga to Rashford gave United a deserving lead. And for the first time in recent years, United are enjoyable to watch again. Spurs created some chances in the second half but DDG had some other plans. He earned his fourth clean sheet of the season (third one in a row)


Ole Solskjaer celebrating after the win at Wembley.

Gary Neville: “Manchester United look like Manchester United”.

Arsenal’s defeat at West Ham and victory for the United at Wembley bought the Red Devils level with Unai Emery’s men in fifth place. Tottenham remains in the third place but the gap between them and Liverpool increased to nine points and United are six points away from the fourth position. It was first real test for Solskjaer and he passed it with a good grade.


Peter Schmeichel reacts to DDG’s heroics.

David De Gea has now kept as many PL clean sheets this season as Joe Hart.


Herrera was speechless.


David De Gea!!!

Eyes Ahead

“We are still sixth so let’s keep our feet on the floor, let’s try to beat Brighton and be humble. We din’t start the league very well, so we still have a long way to go to each top four”- Ander Herrera.

Impressing the Boss.

“Results-wise, to come away here and beat Tottenham is fantastic,” Solskjaer said.

“We hung on in the second half and we never got to grips with it when they changed the system, but you are allowed to have a good goalkeeper.

Obviously when you make 11 saves it is a top performance, but even so, two of them were top saves but the rest you would expect David to make.”

Mourinho’s time at Manchester United: the bright and the dull side.

Premier League

Jose Mourinho got sacked as manager of Manchester United after ugly defeat against the Merseyside on Saturday. The news is this decision was taken by the Glazers and Ed Woodward overnight. Mourinho was even seen in the training, the fans and the media had no clue about this decision till the time it wasn’t officially announced. According to the contract clause, Jose will receive £22.5 m as compensation for getting sacked mid-season.

But let’s not forget he was the best among all the managers United appointed post-Fergie era. He has won 3 trophies including the Europa Cup. Jose has his place among the managerial greats having won Champions League with Porto and Inter Millan, many silverware with Chelsea and Real Madrid but will Mourinho be celebrated as United great?

He managed to win Community Shield, FA Cup and Europa Cup in his first season at United becoming the first United manager to win a major trophy in his debut season. But everything came crashing down since.

Jose’s first silverware as Manchester United manager.

Mourinho celebrating after winning the Europa League.

The Fa Cup celebration in Jose’s first season at United.

So What went wrong? 

Pogba problem: Jose Mourinho had an ugly rift between him and Paul Pogba. It all started in 2016 when Jose benched him for the game against Spurs which ended in 2-0 loss. Pogba was shocked by his decision which resulted in a bad relationship between the manager and the player. But it did not end since Jose Mourinho decided to bench for the next game where Sevilla knocked United out of the Champions League.

Transfer Failure: Jose Mourinho failed to convince the board for the financial backing to sign the players who were suited to his style of play but the debate goes on since none of Jose’s signing proved to be useful and consistent, many players like Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexis Sanches, Eric Bailly failed to impress the manager ended up benched most of the time.

Accusing his own players: One thing that SAF never used to do is criticise his players publically. Mourinho’s relationship with the players was rough since he rarely backed his players and always blamed them for the bad form and spoke in an unflattering manner about them in front of the media. It was natural for the players to lose their morale and resulted in bad performance on the field.

Playing style: While all the rival teams were going ahead with high intensity and quick attacking football Jose was stuck with the old timer stubborn attitude and defensive style and boring football.  United remained inconsistent with the form while Chelsea, City, Liverpool and even Arsenal defined an entertaining and attacking style of football. Pep Guardiola’s major role in City’s transformation into strong Premier League title contenders and Jurgen Klopp has also been working his magic with Liverpool. It was altogether bad for United to finish outside top four but with Liverpool and City going ahead it was getting more difficult.

We would like to wish all the luck to Jose. He will surely be missed. He was a good manager with bad timing at United.

Ole Gunner has been named caretaker manager for United, he will be joined by Mike Phelan as the first team coach together with Michael Carrick and Kieran Mckenna.

Next up Cardiff City away on Saturday- 11:30 IST.

Jose Mourinho and Manchester United have parted ways.

Premier League

After a humiliating defeat (3-1) against their arch-rivals Liverpool Manchester United have confirmed that Jose has left the club after 3 years.

Heartbreaking news for some but many believe it was best for the club to let Jose go. Will the new manager get the club out of trouble?

With just 7 wins in total this season and just days before January transfer window Jose have decided to leave the club with nothing.

The statement

“Manchester United announces that manager Jose Mourinho has left the club with immediate effect.

“The club would like to thank Jose for his work during his time at Manchester United and to wish him success in the future.

“A new caretaker manager will be appointed until the end of the current season, while the club conducts a thorough recruitment process for a new, full-time manager”

Jose had signed a two-year contract extension in January has decided to leave United who is 6th on the Premier League Table, 19 points away from Liverpool, with just 7 wins till December. Mourinho becomes the third manager to fail at United. He had a good first season but everything went against him after that. Most of the fans wanted him gone since he wasn’t able to control the club and get back to winning ways.

The club will announce the new caretaker manager on Saturday before the game against Cardiff, meantime Michael Carrick will take the first team training before confirming a permanent manager.

Gary Neville believes Mauricio Pochettuno can be “ideal” candidate to take over from Mourinho.

“I was fortunate enough to spend two or three days at Tottenham’s training ground and for me, he just feels like the most ideal candidate.

Manchester United have tried managers who have won European Cups, managers who have a solid grounding in the Premier League. My view is they need someone who follows the three key principles of that football club which is promoting youth, entertaining football and winning football matches.”

David Moyes

Louis Van Gaal

Jose Mourinho

Who is next? will United find the perfect manager? when will we realize that managers are not the “only” problem? 

Jose was the most successful manager after SAF retired, if he wasn’t able to get things done then I don’t know who can.

Game of the month: Liverpool vs Man United.

Premier League

We have been waiting for the best game of the season. considering the bad run United fans will only hope for the best against their bitter rivals Liverpool. The big fierce north-west rivals will face each other on Sunday. Liverpool who is sitting at the top of the Premier League table Leaped past the other Manchester team after their 4-0 win against Bournemouth but what United fans will see is the Scousers haven’t won at home in the Premier League against Man United since 2013. But considering the current form, Klopp’s men will be eager to grab all three points to hold their place on the top of the table.

The Red Devils are way off behind their rivals with 16 points away from the first place. United have struggled this season since the start where they were on the 14th position on the PL table but broke into top 6 after a 4-1 win against Fulham. The Red Devils will have to strengthen their defences for Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane who pose a great aerial threat and also mettle with attacking qualities to be in the game equally.

United fans will not be confident of a win but will hope for a decent play against Klopp’s unbeaten side.

Salah vs Lukaku

Salah has been consistent with his form since last season where he scored 10 goals in 16 games with Lukaku having almost same stats but this season Lukaku has had difficulty scoring goals, in 15 games he has scored only 6 goals with just 28 shots on goal (20 fewer than Salah). Salah has also created more chances (33) 2o more than Lukaku.

Mane vs Martial

Martial has managed to be consistent in spite of being in and out of the team with 7 goals in just 9 starts with an average of one goal every 112 minutes far better than Mane who has an average of 196 minutes. Liverpool’s Mane is best of his team attack but Martial has still managed to dwarf him by 38.9% conversion rate against Mane’s 18.2%.

Injury update. 

Most of the alterations against Valencia was forced only two players did not travel due to being handed a rest- DDG and Matic who are likely to return on Sunday. Rojo was taken off due to an unspecified problem and is also unlikely to play against Liverpool. Jose hinted that Young, Lingard and Rashford would all come into starting line-up on Sunday. Smalling, Lindelof, Martial and Darmian are all injured and unsure about the upcoming game.

Manager’s Words

“I don’t know what to say to you. I don’t want to analyse anything. I think we got two positive results in Liverpool last season. We beat them at home, we didn’t lose any match against them in four I think, but that was past. So, Sunday has nothing to do with what happened in the past. The next natch is the one that is important”.

We will fight for the victory.

“I’m going to try. I’m going to try. I always try and I want to play a team that is capable to be with me in that desire and on that ambition and on that confidence. We know that we are going to play against the leader, we are going to play against a team on a high, but we have our qualities, we have our potential”.

Will United break Liverpool’s unbeaten run? or struggle with the poor form? Hope to see better and stronger United on Sunday. Fingers crossed.

Match Facts: Manchester United vs Arsenal

Premier League

United will welcome Arsenal to OT for the PL tie tonight at 1:30 (IST), The Reds will look to close the eight point gap between them while Arsenal sit at the fourth position with 9 wins and 30 points in total.

Jose will have a bit of an injury crises to deal with as Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly are all doubtful after missing the game against Southampton, while Victor Lindelof has been ruled out of the upcoming clash with a groin problem. Nemanja Matic, Marcos Rojo and Matteo Darmian are the options available to fill the gap. Ashley Young serves a one-game suspension, Phil Jones is reportedly nursing an injury and both Luke Shaw and Romelu Lukaku were forced off with knocks on Saturday.

The Gunners are unbeaten in all competitions since August but Jose Mourinho is unbeaten in five previous meetings with Unai Emery all of which came during his time at Real Madrid.

Manchester United came back from two goals down to 2-2 draw against Southampton while Arsenal are returning from defeating their arch rivals Tottenham Hotspurs 4-2 on Sunday.

United will have to start well and play a strong game rather then depending on the last minute comeback to avoid letting Arsenal have all three points but the Gunners will try their chances of a first league win at Old Trafford for over 12 years.

Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka is suspended after getting five yellow cards and Mesut Ozil is unlikely due to because of back spasms.

Jose Mourinho: “We will have a very difficult match. They are a good team who have had a good run of results. But in spite of our selection issues, they know it won’t be easy either.

“We don’t need a miracle [to finish in the top four] at all. I think we need a good run of results and we don’t need to waste points where we shouldn’t be wasting them.”

 Unai Emery: “It will be a very big challenge for us and it will confirm our good moment, or whether we need more.

“It is very difficult to win there because they are a very big team with big players and have a big atmosphere pushing them, but it is an exciting match and my motivation is very big.”

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

  • This will be the first meeting in which neither of the long-serving managers is involved since 23 August 1986, when the Gunners won 1-0 in a league game at High bury.
  • Manchester United are unbeaten in 11 home league matches against Arsenal since September 2006.
  • However, the Gunners did win at Old Trafford in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in March 2015.

Manchester United

  • United have conceded 23 goals in their opening 14 Premier League games – only the bottom five (prior to the latest round of matches) have a worse record.
  • Last season it took the Red Devils until 10 March – and 30 matches – until they conceded 23 league goals.
  • They have conceded six goals in the opening 15 minutes of matches this season, a joint-league high with Fulham.
  • Jose Mourinho’s side are win less in three league games for the first time in 12 months.
  • Their only home league defeat this term was the 3-0 loss to Spurs on 27 August.

Arsenal

  • A win would give the Gunners 16 away points – as many as they claimed in total on the road last season.
  • They have already equalled last term’s total of four away victories in the top flight.
  • Sunday’s triumph against Spurs was only Arsenal’s fourth win in their last 29 league games against other sides from the established top six.
  • The Gunners are unbeaten in their last 12 league games, and 19 matches in all competitions.
  • They are one of four teams to have kept just two Premier League clean sheets this season (along with Manchester United) – only Fulham, with none, have a worse record.
  • They have scored 24 second-half goals in the Premier League this season, more than any other side.
  • Arsenal has lost their last three-midweek league games, conceding three goals in each defeat.
  • Pierre-Aubameyang has scored with his last 10 shots on target in the Premier League – no goalkeeper has saved against him since West Ham’s Lukasz Fabianski in August.
    Facts Credit: BBC