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Showing posts from August, 2018

Burnley vs Manchester United Preview

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Burnley vs Manchester United Preview
It's bounce-back time! Manchester United travel to Burnley, aiming to get their second win of the season after back-to-back defeats to Brighton away and Tottenham at home. Back-to-back defeats of late have come at seriously inopportune moments of the respective seasons. Last year, defeats to Tottenham and Newcastle essentially gave Manchester City more space to cleave through the rest of the Premier League and allowed the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs to edge closer to second place. The year before, United suffered early defeats to Man City at home and Watford away with a Europa League defeat to Feyenoord sandwiched between the two. In the final season of Van Gaal's short tenure, United suffered three December defeats on the bounce to newly-promoted Bournemouth and Norwich, as well as a 2-0 defeat at Stoke on Boxing Day, which only put more pressure on the experienced Dutchman as his future at United continued to be questioned. 
The…

Champions league Draw, Test of strength

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The champions league group stage matches have officially been set and Manchester United have an very interesting group of matches to be played in this years Competition!  Man Utd have drawn a very competitive group of teams in this years competition,  'The Old Lady' Italian giants, Juventus, Spanish side Valencia and BSC Young Boys. While many fans worry about the future of the remaining season, it doesn't look any easier from the looks of it, but don't worry, Manchester United had a 73% chance of advancing from the group but that was before they did the draw.. and it has now decreased to 65%, still not bad right?  I and I'm sure many other Man Utd fans are remotely excited about the group stage of this competition and here's why! 
TEST OF STRENGTH This year Man Utd will be able to show whether or not if they truly belong in the champions league, it also shows how good not only their manager can be, but also their players, it will be a true test for Pogba himself a…

Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspurs Player Ratings

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Manchester United played like Manchester United of old in the first half against Spurs. There was a sense of urgency and desire among the players who wanted to bounce back from that disappointing defeat at the Amex Stadium. It was a game of two halves as United were clearly the better side in the opening 45 minutes but poor finishing let them down. Spurs took their chances in their second half to inflict a 3-0 defeat on United at Old Trafford.

Manager: Jose MourinhoFormation: 4-3-3
Starting XI: De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Shaw, Herrera, Fred, Matic, Pogba, Lingard, Lukaku
David De Gea(GK) - 8/10David de Gea was at his usual best in the game as he made one of his typical out of this world save from an Alli shot. He was good with his distribution too as he regularly found the likes of Lukaku and Fellaini when he came on in the second half. But there was hardly he could have done for any of the 3 goals United conceded as the defenders let him down once again. 
Valencia(RB) - 6/10The E…

José Mourinho not the man to blame for Tottenham defeat

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OUCH! Imagine a nightmare about Manchester United losing 3-2 to Brighton and eight days later losing 3-0 to Tottenham hotspur in their own backyard!

Well unfortunately for me and many fans around the world, this was indeed a nightmare come true! As we all seen, Manchester United were hammered against the Spurs at Old Trafford 3-0. But watching the first half of the match and the beginning of the second half of the match, we certainly didn't see a 3-0 loss coming for the Reds! But what exactly went wrong?

Many people will easily point straight at the Man Utd manger Jośe Mourinho! But to be fair, i don't think you can blame him for everything, especially this one! So who can we blame?
I pin this one on many of the players out on the pitch, yes we played some good football the first half with some exciting attacking football that we haven't seen in such a while, but we couldn't just find the back of the net, NOT EVEN ONCE!

Miss after miss for the Manchester United Belgia…

Manchester United vs Tottenham Match Analysis

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Manchester United vs Spurs Match Analysis

After the utter shambles which was Manchester United’s 3-2 defeat at the hands of Brighton last weekend, United looked to bounce back and in a big way against fellow top 4 rivals Tottenham. The result after last week’s game, put Mourinho and his men under huge scrutiny, with the negativity around the club growing worse every day. This meant it was imperative that the performance of the team improved against Spurs.
Mourinho shocked many people with his team selection as there was wholesale changes to the line up after last week’s game. The team sheet saw a change of formation for United, who started the game with a 3-5-2 formation, the first time since pre-season we have used it. Mourinho also made key personal changes with Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Ander Herrera coming in as a make shift back 3. The midfield looked similar to before, with the only change being Matic coming in for Andreas Pereira. Finally, United started with two attacks, as…

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur Combined XI

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Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs Combined XI Another Big Six clash so early this season, but the first for both teams as Tottenham make the journey up north to Old Trafford for Monday night's big game. Both teams are brimming with class, which was shown so clearly by the number of players out on international duty at the World Cup. The majority of which were playing for either England or Belgium (eight and five players respectively). Both teams have a World Cup winner in their side with club captain, Hugo Lloris and acting captain, Paul Pogba both likely to start the match. Both have some world class players at their disposal and teams that are comfortable playing in a 3-5-2 formation:

GOALKEEPER: David de Gea He may not have had the best World Cup but he is without doubt the best in the world and deserves his place in this lineup. 
CENTRE BACKS: Toby Alderwiereld, Eric Bailly, Jan Vertonghen Two of which could have been playing together at Old Trafford... Bailly had a poor…

Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur Preview

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Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspurs Preview Such a huge game for Manchester United at such an early point in the season as the Red Devils host Tottenham on Monday night. After a narrow 2-1 win against Leicester and a 3-2 defeat away to Brighton, United need to step up if they are going to compete for the title with Man City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea all with 100% records so far. Last year, Manchester United narrowly beat Spurs following their first defeat of the season away to newly promoted Huddersfield, a loss equally as humiliating as the one just suffered last Sunday. It seems that United are a bogey team for Spurs at home as they have won the last four home games against Tottenham with their last home defeat to the North London side in the dreaded 2013/14 season.

Jose Mourinho has declared that Nemanja Matic, Antonio Valencia and Alexis Sanchez are all back in first team training and both Jesse Lingard and Ander Herrera could feature with the latter on the bench for …

Man United Women v Reading Women: Match Preview

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Today marks history for United Women as they embark on their very first home game in their inaugural season - the Reds take on Reading in their second group game of the Continental Cup.

United won their first game against Liverpool last week in smash-and-grab victory, Lizzie Arnot scoring the winning goal late on.

There were many positives to take from their first game victory that fans can be excited about - namely to sparkling debut from 16-year-old Lauren James who looked like a seasoned professional dominating the midfield.

Former Bristol City captain Millie Turner also impressed across the 90 minutes - her composure, ability to regain possession and win every 1v1 battle she went in for is one of the reasons United managed to keep a clean sheet.

It is likely that after preseason, Stoney knows what her best starting XI is, but we don't yet know if it's the same 11 who started last week. After the win, Stoney could opt to keep an unchanged squad or make some changes. The li…

Confidence is key & Manchester United need to find it

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Imagine from Metro
We are all still trying to wipe the tears and drain the headaches from our latest defeat to 3-2 defeat from Brighton and Hove Albion.

But what exactly went wrong?
Is it Jose Morhinho? Ed Woodward? The players?  I would say its a little bit of everything! Why? Well let's go over it shall we? 
 Ed Woodward: as we all know by now Ed Woodward, Cheif executive of Manchester United, did not back Mourhino in this transfer window when it came to signing a new CB. Why didn't Woodward back Jose on signing a new CB? It can only show a complete lack of trust! If he would have just trusted Mourhino in signing a new defender, would we be discussing this right now? 
Jose Mourhino: the decision about keeping Jose Mourinho as manager is split down the middle pretty much, but can his style of play really make us contenders for the league title or Champions League? The answer at the moment is obviously no! With talent like Lukaku,Pogba,Rashford,Martial,Lingard and Sanchez, do…

Brighton Hove Albion vs Manchester United Player Ratings

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Manchester United succumbed to their first defeat of the season at the Amex Stadium. It was a shambolic performance from Mourinho's men as Brighton beat United 3-2. It was a result that sent shockwaves around the globe as United already fell 3 points behind rivals Manchester City, who had hammered Huddersfield 6-1 earlier in the day.

Manchester United XI: David De Gea, Ashley Young, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelöf, Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba (c), Andreas Pereira, Fred, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku
David de Gea(GK) : 5/10 De Gea didn't do much wrong in the match. It was the men in front of him who let the team down. He could have saved the penalty though when he guessed it right. 

Ashley Young(RB): (3/10)The England international came in the team for Darmian and gave a horrible performance as a right fullback. He was caught out of position for the first goal as March ran behind him to give a cross for Murray to score. His crossing at the other end was terrible as well as he f…

James shines in smash-and-grab victory for United | Match Review

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Brighton vs Manchester United Match Analysis

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Manchester United looked to follow up victory in their first Premier League game of the season with another win away at Brighton. The game against Leicester was promising for United as they run out 2-1 winners, with goals from Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw. The defence was solid, and the midfield was great, the only concern was the forward line. However, it was still a great start for United and they looked to push on from it against Brighton.
The team sheet saw a few changes from the previous game with fan favourite Anthony Martial replacing the injured Alexis Sánchez, Romelu Lukaku replacing Marcus Rashford and the now fully fit again Ashley Young replacing Matteo Darmain. Mourinho hoped that these changes would help us in the attack as the prolific Romelu Lukaku returned to the starting eleven, looking to get straight back in with the goals. Mourinho also decided to keep the centre back pairing of Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelöf, who looked great against Leicester, as well as also keepin…

Liverpool v Man United: The women's era begins

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There is arguably no bigger rivalry in English football than Liverpool v Manchester United, and that looks to be no different in the women's game.

Liverpool and Manchester have 120 years worth of history between from the opening of the Ship Canal, to the prolific music scenes and two of the most established and successful clubs in world football. 
While Liverpool is a giant in the women's game, all eyes will be on the newly established Manchester United side, including the familiar faces of seven former Liverpool players.

Siobhan Chamberlain, Amy Turner, Martha Harris, Lucy Roberts and captain Alex Greenwood all swapped the Merseyside Red for the Manchester Red this summer when they signed for United. Naomi Hartley and Emily Ramsey also rejoined United from Liverpool as former United Academy graduates.

Despite United focusing their efforts on promotion to the top tier league come the end of the season, the Continental Cup tie v Liverpool is the ideal icebreaker for Stoney'…

Brighton and Hove Albion vs Manchester United Preview

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Brighton and Hove Albion vs Manchester United Preview
Game two of the season and after a narrow win at Old Trafford on the opening day against Leicester City, Manchester United travel south to Brighton aiming for a fourth season with back-to-back victories in the first two games. Brighton themselves lost poorly to Watford and rarely got into the game with not a single shot on target and 46% possession but seem to have an almost fully fit squad and are likely to name a similar squad to the Saturday XI. 
Manchester United played Brighton three times last season and won two of the fixtures (one in the FA Cup) but more importantly United lost the away match that not only decided that Brighton would stay for at least another season in the Premier League, but also meant that they lost the away game to all three promoted sides (2-1 to Huddersfield, 1-0 to Newcastle and 1-0 to Brighton) in what was United's seventh league defeat of the season. 

In his press conference today, Jose Mourinh…

The Future of Anthony Martial

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Martial holds our badge in pride - Image from The Standard


The Future of Anthony Martial
Anthony Martial signed for Manchester United on the 1st of September 2015. Before he had even kicked a ball, the speculation began that he wasn't good enough for the Red Devils. Costing £36 million with additional fees reporters began to sink their teeth into the 19 year old. United played Liverpool on Martial's debut where he went on to silence the media by scoring an 86th minute stunner slicing past Skrtel and placing the ball in the net. To pour salt in the wounds of Liverpool, this goal cancelled out the celebrations of a Benteke bicycle kick that had sent the Liverpool fans a glimmer of hope. However, since this day, Martial's career has not been as smooth as some people may have imagined.

Martial went on to grab 11 league goals in his first season under Louis Van Gaal showing his talent whilst playing alongside Wayne Rooney. But when LVG got the sack, Martial's game time was d…

Play It Wide!

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May 19th 2013 will always be remembered as a sad day for Manchester United Football Club. It was Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1500th and final match in charge of the Red Devils and 27 trophy laden years had come to an end. The game itself, a 5-5 draw away at West Bromwich Albion epitomised everything associated with Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson’s affiliation with the club. Sir Alex drew on the great traditions set by Sir Matt Busby in the 50s and 60s, playing fast, attacking and entertaining football with wingers which became widely recognised as the Manchester United way. Pre-Munich, David Pegg and Albert Scanlon graced the Old Trafford turf and after the rebuild from the tragedy of 1958, there was George Best, revered throughout the world and winning the 1968 European Cup with our beloved club. United’s traditions continued into the 70s and 80s with the likes of Steve Coppell, Gordon Hill, Jesper Olsen and Gordon Strachan. Ryan Giggs tore defenders apart for 25 years from 1991 on…

Should we be Getting Worried about Mourinho?

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Of the three managers since 2013, there’s no denying that Jose Mourinho has brought about the best post-Sir Alex Ferguson period at Manchester United since the departure of the legendary Scotsman. The Portuguese has won the EFL Cup, the Europa League, and the Community Shield but United fans are used to challenging for more silverware than this. The former Chelsea boss is entering his third season at Old Trafford, and it is imperative that he has the Red Devils well in the race for the Premier League title this time out.

Mourinho has been famous for entering a club and then winning the league in his second season, but this wasn’t the case with United. In fact, his side were nowhere near champions Manchester City last time out and ended the campaign 19 points behind Pep Guardiola’s men. As Mourinho appears increasingly frustrated, should fans be getting worried?

Looking back on Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge a few years ago may worry United fans. In his second season in ch…