Posts

INEOS Set to Enter a Crucial First Summer at Manchester United

Image
Manchester United finds itself in an all too familiar position. Calamity feels more comforting, more familiar, in recent years than anything that sounds like consistency or structure. It has become the norm, and it now officially embodies the Glazers’ incompetent reign as longstanding majority owners of the club as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co look poised to attack the mission impossible with their 25% stake.  But, at the very least, it is a stake that carries with it the football decision-making responsibility (Translation: Joel and Avram ridding their position of the little snippet that requires interest and care for the actual sport and officially being able to focus their attention exclusively on Manchester United, the business. Though the last decade suggests they sacked off caring about the on-field product long ago). So yes, as a consolation, if one can get over the sickness that comes with knowing that INEOS have pumped more of their own money into the club in a matter of month...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tottenham's Injury Crisis May Expose Media Bias

Image
Tottenham Hotspur rode high into their recent Monday night clash with London rivals Chelsea but they left sunken and defeated. Long-term injuries suffered by Micky van de Ven and James Maddison opened everyone's eyes to a reality where Big Ange's men are in fact human; not robots.  The easiest hat trick one will ever witness from Blues forward Nicolas Jackson sealed Spurs' fate that night, and they have since suffered two more defeats in their next two games. In a season where Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has faced more than his fair share of scrutiny, the role of the media's agenda-setting may become quite telling in response to the sudden collapse in the form of Postecoglou's Tottenham.  James Maddison has been readily identified as Tottenham Hotspur's difference maker; the glue of the team that makes everything work. He's made for Ange-ball. And this is understandable and reasonable. But what about Lisandro Martinez? Is he not the former Ajax centr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Marcus Rashford Must Find His Feet Fast

Image
If you were to ask anyone remotely familiar with Erik Ten Hag's first season as Manchester United boss, they would likely define Marcus Rashford as the X-factor, the difference-maker, the main man. Sure, you might encounter the hipsters who identify the Brazilian maestro Casemiro as the true catalyst for improvement with his insertion into the heart of the team. One might even make a shout for Lisandro Martinez, who led the line for a golden-glove-winning back line that finished with a league-best 17 clean sheets. But even those folk will make a mention of United's number 10, whose 41 goal contributions in all competitions made the resounding difference in a team whose goal count severely lacked in comparison to the teams around them. And goals, after all, win games. Fast forward to the present, however, and Rashford is nowhere near on track to match his output from the 2022/23 campaign. While the counting stats are not the be-all and end-all for analyzing a footballer's ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Erik Ten Hag Must Break the Manchester United Cycle

Image
We have been here far too often. A Manchester United manager has had an underwhelming summer transfer window entering his second season, dealt with injuries to the squad, and now murmurs of job security following a slow start to said season welcomes one into the realm of unfortunate and ominous conversations. When will the cycle be broken at this football club?  The answer - to me, at least - is indeed found in the bald Dutchman currently employed. And no, Donny van de Beek hasn't suffered from hair loss; rather, recency bias has clouded seemingly everyone's judgment over what Erik ten Hag has accomplished in his first 16 months as manager of the club. When accounting for situational circumstances, ignoring the paracosm that some live in where United is apparently anywhere near the levels of their cross-town neighbors, and analyzing the club from the perspective of their on-field product instead of presuming that the PR-machine megabrand is representative of the state of the ac...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jude Bellingham Is No Fool, Says Ole Gunnar Solskjær

Image
Details of the length or expiry of managers' probationary periods don't get released following their exits from football clubs, but it became quite apparent recently that former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjær had finally had the green and yellow tape ripped from his lips. What came out, as a result, made one feel as though the Norwegian had been loading up since that fateful day of defeat at Watford for his chance to let rip, and an analysis of the entire interview from start to finish would be closer to the length of a book.  Hence, we will focus on one particular comment; one that admittedly went under the radar amidst the more pressing, headline-creating matters that Solskjær addressed. "We wanted Jude Bellingham badly... but I respect he chose Dortmund . That was probably sensible." Interesting. Now, we all understand that it is easier for Ole to praise Jude's anti-United decision-making once he's 20 months removed from the job and sat comforta...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jadon Sancho's Outburst May Be More Symbolic Than It Appears

Image
Erik Ten Hag couldn't have made his answer clearer when asked about Jadon Sancho's absence from the matchday squad following Manchester United's defeat at the Emirates; "On his performance in training we didn't select him ." Jadon was equally as clear in his unheralded response sent out shortly after across his social media; "I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair!" A Manchester United winger causing unnecessary drama off the pitch, putting a manager in a difficult position, and forcing a largely incompetent board and team of higher-ups at the football club into swift, paramount action. Sound familiar? It will be interesting to see how this one plays out - without the legal implications of the Mason Greenwood saga but with just the same amount of attention and scrutiny from the public eye. What stands out to me is the question that has arisen on both occasions, asked tentatively and yet with a substantial amount of gravity to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Time Must Be Afforded to Rasmus Højlund

Image
It didn't take long after Manchester United's signing of Danish marksman Rasmus Højlund for the mainstream media in the United Kingdom to plaster his face alongside Erling Haaland's on a number of different graphics juxtaposing the players.  Outwardly, this may have appeared to be a playful, light-hearted means of comparison between two Scandinavian strikers whose last names happen to be rather similar. However in reality, when one realizes that those intricate details are about the extent of their likeness and comparability, it might bring forth a more cynical conclusion that such comparisons to the man coming off a record-breaking Premier League campaign are really just setting Rasmus up to fail.  Nine goals and four assists in 20 Serie A starts versus 36 goals and eight assists in 33 Premier League starts . Age 20 versus age 23 - a significant  gap in development, physical standing, and just about any other aspect one can think of in regard to the growth of a footballe...
Post a Comment
Read more