Tag: Final

Premier League legend and Sky Sport pundit Jamie Carragher has said that Manchester United summer marquee addition Paul Pogba is a defensive liability.

The Red Devils were gifted a clear chance to make the top four but they were lacklustre in their game against Bournemouth.

“He’s not a game changer. It was a signal of their intentions to spend £90 million on someone I would say isn’t a finished article,” Chelsea legend Frank Lampard said in his criticism of Pogba after the game.

United were forced to a 1-1 draw that would likely see them finish outside of the top four this season.

“He hasn’t quite delivered and he hasn’t been a game-changer,” Lampard added.

When Carragher had his turn to speak, he was unsparing in his criticism.

“He’s still nowhere near good enough and hasn’t got the discipline. He’s a liability defensively. What he does give you is a fantastic passing range. There’s no doubt he has a great relationship with [Zlatan] Ibra[himovic],” the Reds legend said. (more…)

Luke Shaw appears to have lost his place in the Manchester United first-team after missing out on the 4-0 loss against Chelsea.

However, he was recalled for the EFL Cup clash with Manchester City in the midweek. A game against City is always of massive importance, but Shaw failing to make it to the league match and then featuring in the EFL Cup game suggests that he has fallen down the pecking order at United. It is not the first time thatShaw has faced the situation since his £30 million move from Southampton in 2014.

Still only 21,Shaw has the capability to get back into Mourinho’s favour with some good performances. He certainly helped his case by being part of the defence that kept a clean sheet against City in the 1-0 win. The victory no pits Manchester United against West Ham in the last eight of the EFL Cup. (more…)

Manchester United have a great reputation for developing young players from the academy into first-team regulars.

This was especially pronounced during the era of Sir Alex Ferguson, as names like David Beckham, Gary Neville, and Paul Scholes progressed through the youth system to become great superstars. However, there is a danger of this tradition being lost with the club undergoing several managerial changes in the last three years. After experiencing more than two decades of stability under Ferguson, United have already gone through three managers since 2013.

Jose Mourinho has just arrived as the third manager and he has been given substantial amount of transfer money to improve the squad. The Portuguese is also expected to quickly bring success to Old Trafford. After managing to win the FA Cup last season, the club are now targeting at least two more trophies. Mourinho has already set the target of winning the Premier League in his first season at Old Trafford, while he would also realistically be targeting at the Europa League as well. However, he has already been criticising for this regarding youth in the chase for results. Last season’s most promising debutant – Marcus Rashford – has seen very little football, but Mourinho has promised to that the England international will be receiving game time in the future.

“Marcus will play a lot. I cannot choose competitions. I cannot say Zlatan doesn’t play one single match in the Europa League because that is not the case. I cannot say Marcus doesn’t start matches in the Premier League because that is not the case.Marcus is a young and talented player. That is why we didn’t buy more strikers. If you don’t trust him or want him to play, then you would buy other strikers. That is not the case,” said José Mourinho.

Liverpool signing Sadio Mane has confirmed that Manchester United were also interested in signing him but it was the move from Liverpool that changed the entire story.

The Southampton winger recently secured a £ 30 million move to Anfield to become one of the important forwards at the club. The injury prone forwards like Daniel Sturridge could get much less first-team opportunities in the upcoming 2016-17 season due to the presence of players likeMane. The player has admitted for the first time that Manchester United were also interested in him.

The news, though, does not come as a major surprise given that United have been looking to revamp that almost the entire squad since the arrival of Jose Mourinho. Even though the addition of Zlatan Ibrahimovic is certainly an important one, it is a very short-term signing nonetheless.Mane, though, will be different since he can contribute to the club at least for the next five years. Even though there was a lot of interest from other clubs,Mane says that the offer from Liverpool was too good to turn down since he believes he will get a lot of opportunities to improve as a player while playing at Anfield.
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Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has said that MarouaneFellaini will have to learn to control himself on the pitch.

The Manchester United player was guilty of elbowing Robert Huth and has been banned for 3 matches.

Louis van Gaal, however, admitted that it was a human reaction as footage has shown that Huth was pulling out his hair. He conceded that Manchester United has no intentions of appealing the ban despite the fact that the ban would prevent Fellaini from missing the remaining games of the season.

The Dutch manager said it was unfortunate that the referee did not see the action properly and given that the Huth has also received a 3-match ban there was a foul in the penalty area. For him, this means that his team has been denied a penalty in the game.

However, he added that he would not want to complain too much as he respects what Leicester have achieved this season by winning the title and he congratulated them for their achievements. (more…)

AC Milan’s head coach, Sinisa Mihajlovic has come out in defense of mario Balotelli’s behaviour. He said Balotelli’s has a character rating of 10 out of 10. The 25-year-old’s career has been much talked about due to distractions off the pitch and his history of bad disposition. Since returning to San Siro on loan from Liverpool, he has stayed out of trouble and it’s incredible.

The talented forward has been on the sidelines a lot due to injury concerns. He has played 16 games scoring 3 goals for the team. After meeting him recently, Milan coach says he still has confidence in him.

Sinisa Mihajlovic told Sky Sport Italia: “I was blunt with him. I wanted to talk to him and look at him, because I’ve known Mario since Roberto Mancini gave him his Inter debut.”

Balotelli has a history of bad behavior and Inter Milan former coach, Jose mourinho tagged him “unmanageable.”

“He was a kid then. Many years have passed and he’s changed, too. I found a mature person, a man, not a boy. I wanted to look him in the eyes, and he gave me the right impression. The key thing is that he’s a good lad, and I really like him,” he continued. (more…)

The Selecao manager Dunga has backed his decision of replacing Coutinho with Kaka in the squad that he has announced for the upcoming couple of games.

It has come as a big surprise for everyone that Dunga took a backward step and went back to Kaka instead of encouraging a young talent like Coutinho.

Dunga had brought Coutinho into the side straightaway after he took charge following Brazil’s World Cup disaster and the young winger did not disappoint him.

The 23-year old played a little bit in Copa America and he was okay in that tournament in terms of his form.

He might not have been extraordinary, but, he would have thought he did well enough to retain his place in the squad.

However, in Dunga’s view, it was not the case. According to the boss, Coutinho failed to make the most of his opportunity and thus, had to make space for Kaka.

Addressing the press after the announcement of the squad the other day, Dunga said, “Philippe has had his opportunity. He played in Copa America. You have to understand that it’s not possible to do the rebuilding work with young players only. Experience is needed as well.” (more…)

Former Burnley defender Kieran Trippier says that he is excited by the possibility of featuring for a big club like Tottenham Hotspur.

The defender recently completed a switch to White Hart Lane from the relegated team Burnley. Even though his transfer fee may be just around £ 5 million, Trippier is expected to be a key part of Spurs going forward. After all, the youngster was one of the major attacking forces of Burnley despite being a defender. At just 24 years of age, he still has the capability to learn a lot more in the game.

Trippier is primarily looking forward to playing in front of a packed White Hart Lane, which is one of the noisiest grounds in England. Spurs did no negotiations with Burnley over the transfer of Trippier as they agreed to meet the release clause his contract. The exact details of his transfer fee have not been disclosed. In the past four years at Burnley, Trippier made close to 200 appearances and he was also a key part in the club rise to the Premier League. It was always expected that top names like Trippier would depart Burnley if the club failed to stay in the top division and it proved to be the case. (more…)