Posts tagged Premier League

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.

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

We’re not going to be relegated – Mourinho

Premier League

After the Derby win City is 12 points ahead of the Reds who are eighth on the Premier League table and Jose Mourinho has more important things on his mind than to worry about the downfall and rather jokes about not getting relegated.

UNITED have won only 6 out of 12 games they have played and derby was their 4th defeat. United are 12 points away from the top and 12 points away from the bottom to which Jose responded- “I think we’re not going to be relegated,”

He believes that his team did not perform poorly but were rather mentally tired

“One team (City) started the season strong and are still strong, another team (United) didn’t start well and is improving a lot,” he added.

“If you focus on the game, it was open for 80 minutes. I think no one left the stadium before the third goal because the match was open.

“Our second game (against Juventus) was like a final for us, against one of the best teams in Europe, demanding everything we had to give from a physical and mental perspective.

“So, when I analyse the game – you can go for stats, that’s the way people who don’t understand football analyse, with stats – I don’t go for stats. I go for what I felt, for what I saw in the game.

“I consider the performance to be one with mistakes, it’s different to a bad performance. We were punished, but the performance, mentality, togetherness, belief, fighting until the end, is something we are building. We won’t lose that because of a defeat.”

Lukaku earned a penalty for the Red giving them hope of a comeback.

Mourinho managing his 300th Premier League match saw his team go down against the noisy neighbours, he believes key man Pogba’s presence would have made a difference and how Fellaini had to play full 90 min even when we was not fully fit.

“It’s not me to speak about a player who was not there after a defeat,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.

“Of course, we missed him and one thing that broke a lot our plan was the fact Fellaini had to start (in Pogba’s place) because he wasn’t in the condition to play 90 minutes.

“He was phenomenal in his effort, but he wasn’t in condition to do it. Imagine this game with Fellaini fresh coming on for the final 20 minutes.”

Manchester United play Crystal Palace on 24th of this month at 8:30 IST.


Anthony Martial Scored 5th goal in 5 games.

“All I’m thinking about is Manchester United.”- Jose Mourinho.

Premier League

Manchester United was set to break the record and win their first game at Stamford Bridge after 2012 but Ross Barkley’s 90+6th-minute equalizer changed everything. It was a dramatic game not only on the field but on the sidelines as well, Jose Mourinho lost his cool after Sarri’s assistant Lanni purposely celebrated in front of Jose and his team. Sarri later cleared the air and made his staff apologize for the bad behaviour.

Mourinho on this issue:

“I’m serious, I want to thank Sarri for his honesty. I want to thank Chelsea for their honest too, but I’m not happy that it’s going too far with the young boy. He doesn’t deserve that. I accepted his apologies. I don’t think he deserves to be sacked”

The Reds are now preparing to face Italian giants Juventus in Champions League which will be played on Wednesday at 12:30 (IST). Both Ronaldo and Pogba will be facing their former teams, it will be an important game for both the sides and it will be an interesting game to watch.

Jose Mourinho: 

 On Real Madrid return:

 “No, I’m happy here, I’m happy to see out my contract and I’d like to stay after my contract runs out. All I’m thinking about is Manchester United.”

On Cristiano Ronaldo:

“I thought Cristiano is in a level where he doesn’t need questions and answers. He’s one of the best players of all time and nobody can say differently.”

On Juventus clash:

“United’s form was shown in the past two matches, the way we want to play and the way we can play.”

On Juventus being favourites to win the CL:

“Bonucci, they have Cancelo and they have Can and there are other important additions. Juventus have a lot to offer and an extra year experience with the same coach and structure.”

“They now have a special player who makes a difference. They are more than contenders to win the Champions League in my opinion.”

 On Valencia absence:

“Reason was he was 10 days without training. A problem that he had very complicated surgery on his mouth. Needed time to recover.”

“Against Chelsea, everybody was happy with the collective performance but nobody was happy with the result. The players have to get the best out of those feelings.”

On Pogba development:

“I don’t like this press conference. No. I don’t want to speak about Pogba, I don’t want to speak about individuals. I don’t want to speak to Spanish journalists only interested in Real Madrid.”

On Martial’s form:

“That’s individual but I think Martial is like the team. The team is playing fine and Martial is playing fine. Anthony has been involved in two matches where the team has scored 5 goals.”