The first great derby of the Premier League, 2013-2014.
Manchester United - Chelsea FC.
New coaches for both sides. David Moyes replaces retired old-timer Alex Ferguson, while Jose Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge after 6 years.
These stats, as well as the promise of a hopefully close battle between these two giants, to try and win the title, are way more interesting than what has happened during the actual match.
Man. u. fans are going to claim the possibility of getting a penalty or two for some handballs (which, had they been awarded as PKs by the referee, would have been severely criticized by many people, including of course all Chelsea staff). And Chelsea fans would point out the fact that their chances were somewhat more direct and even more penetrating and incisive. Chelsea actually hit the bar in the second half.
Also, it should be said that Mourinho still dislikes Juan Mata, who again did not play, and that he preferred Schurrle to Torres in the first half. (Torres did not come in until the 60th minute, actually, replacing another relatively unknown Chelsea player, de Bruyne. And, based on how he played, Mourinho's decision to keep Torres on the bench was right on the money.)
Chelsea is bound to get better this season. They were very cautious in this match, and I'm sure they weren't the best they can be.
As for Man. U.... Well, they don't necessarily have to be better than their Premier League opponents to get the best results they need to get. So, they'll pretty much always be in the hunt until (close to) the end. Enough said.
Highlights from Manchester united - Chelsea London FC 0-0:
Showing posts with label Jose Mourinho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jose Mourinho. Show all posts
Monday, 26 August 2013
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Cut the Bitching, Sore Losers!
Living in an English-speaking country, I heard a lot of sports programs after the Man. U. - Real Madrid match condemning the referee for giving a red card to Nani. -- "It should have been a yellow...", "His eyes were on the ball the whole time...", "It was reckless, not malicious...", "What was the referee thinking?!...", and so on.
That's all bullshit! Enough with the sympathy for this huge conglomerate called "United", from Manchester! The only thing this club is innocent of is paying the referee who made that call.
Alright, so the decision could have gone either way. God forbid, for once, the referee takes the road that doesn't give a break to this giant of football, Manchester United!...
Also, it's not a decision that was match-altering. Not at all. You see players sent off in other matches, for lesser offenses, and their teams don't make such a big fuss. They just play, 10 versus 11. (It wasn't 8 versus 11. It wasn't a clear penalty, not given. And may I remind you that Real lost a crucial piece of their puzzle, di Maria, in the first half? Mourinho did some shuffling around, and he fixed it. I'm sure he could have fixed having his team play 10 versus 11, too.)
So, these people who are condemning the Turkish referee should save their bitching for real crucial decisions. Like Lampard's unseen goal in that match against Germany, at World Cup 2010. That was a match-altering bad call. Nani's red card is small potatoes. United was still one goal up, at that point. And the incident did not lead to conceding a dangerous free kick, or anything of the sort, either. And I've seen so many teams playing 10 against 11, from worse positions, and winning. So, saying that the elimination of Nani - who's not always in the starting eleven (!!!) - was the main factor in Man. U.'s elimination is nothing more than trying to find an easy scapegoat.
What, the English team could not have played with 10 players, and without Nani, and won?
As a matter of fact, looking at the last twenty minutes independently, they seemed to do quite well, especially in attack. Where Nani would have had most of his contribution. They just didn't score (but it's not like Nani is a born goalscorer or had scored a lot of goals recently).
And what did Ferguson do, to help his team? Instead of doing any good switches and changes, he started bellowing at the referees, like he always does when things don't go his way.
(Maybe in the English league United players don't get sent off for those high challenges, but in international competitions you don't always get the favouritism you think you're entitled to, Ferg!)
So, yeah, basically I'm saying ferguson is not a very good coach. Apparently he built a team that seemed to crumble like a house of cards, in three minutes, for a reason so banal as having to play 10 versus 11.
But it wasn't the red card that changed the match. I don't think so. For me, the match-changing moment was Mourinho's genius move in substituting Luka Modric for Arbeloa. Not Nani's elimination. It was Modric's insertion. And his brilliant shot, in the 66th minute, that came out of nowhere.
If Modric had not scored then, who knows what the final score would have been. So, there!
Also, if you want to talk about unfair, how about Ramos' stupid own goal, three minutes after the interval?
Don't you think the mentality of the Real players could have been shattered at that point? But they came back.
Really, that's where I think a great coach makes the difference. Real had one, United didn't.
The Champions League is better with Real in it, now, than it had been had the English progressed.
I mean, really, this is a so-called contender that was beaten/humiliated by the likes of Galatasaray, Basel and CFR Cluj, in the Champions League over the past two years. (And they keep getting results in the English league way too easily.)
Maybe they didn't deserve to lose the match, but they deserved to go out.
Highlights:
That's all bullshit! Enough with the sympathy for this huge conglomerate called "United", from Manchester! The only thing this club is innocent of is paying the referee who made that call.
Alright, so the decision could have gone either way. God forbid, for once, the referee takes the road that doesn't give a break to this giant of football, Manchester United!...
Also, it's not a decision that was match-altering. Not at all. You see players sent off in other matches, for lesser offenses, and their teams don't make such a big fuss. They just play, 10 versus 11. (It wasn't 8 versus 11. It wasn't a clear penalty, not given. And may I remind you that Real lost a crucial piece of their puzzle, di Maria, in the first half? Mourinho did some shuffling around, and he fixed it. I'm sure he could have fixed having his team play 10 versus 11, too.)
So, these people who are condemning the Turkish referee should save their bitching for real crucial decisions. Like Lampard's unseen goal in that match against Germany, at World Cup 2010. That was a match-altering bad call. Nani's red card is small potatoes. United was still one goal up, at that point. And the incident did not lead to conceding a dangerous free kick, or anything of the sort, either. And I've seen so many teams playing 10 against 11, from worse positions, and winning. So, saying that the elimination of Nani - who's not always in the starting eleven (!!!) - was the main factor in Man. U.'s elimination is nothing more than trying to find an easy scapegoat.
What, the English team could not have played with 10 players, and without Nani, and won?
As a matter of fact, looking at the last twenty minutes independently, they seemed to do quite well, especially in attack. Where Nani would have had most of his contribution. They just didn't score (but it's not like Nani is a born goalscorer or had scored a lot of goals recently).
And what did Ferguson do, to help his team? Instead of doing any good switches and changes, he started bellowing at the referees, like he always does when things don't go his way.
(Maybe in the English league United players don't get sent off for those high challenges, but in international competitions you don't always get the favouritism you think you're entitled to, Ferg!)
So, yeah, basically I'm saying ferguson is not a very good coach. Apparently he built a team that seemed to crumble like a house of cards, in three minutes, for a reason so banal as having to play 10 versus 11.
But it wasn't the red card that changed the match. I don't think so. For me, the match-changing moment was Mourinho's genius move in substituting Luka Modric for Arbeloa. Not Nani's elimination. It was Modric's insertion. And his brilliant shot, in the 66th minute, that came out of nowhere.
If Modric had not scored then, who knows what the final score would have been. So, there!
Also, if you want to talk about unfair, how about Ramos' stupid own goal, three minutes after the interval?
Don't you think the mentality of the Real players could have been shattered at that point? But they came back.
Really, that's where I think a great coach makes the difference. Real had one, United didn't.
The Champions League is better with Real in it, now, than it had been had the English progressed.
I mean, really, this is a so-called contender that was beaten/humiliated by the likes of Galatasaray, Basel and CFR Cluj, in the Champions League over the past two years. (And they keep getting results in the English league way too easily.)
Maybe they didn't deserve to lose the match, but they deserved to go out.
Highlights:
Saturday, 1 December 2012
PSG -- Tsk, tsk!
PSG did it again. They lost to Nice.
The Parisians were looking better than the team from the south of France for most of the match, but then, with 13 minutes left, Eric Bautheac put the outsiders in front, after atrocious PSG defending in their own penalty box.
Ibrahimovic's genius free kick tied the score, five minutes later, but that proved to amount to nothing because Eysseric volleyed the ball into the net from close range, after a Bautheac cross, four minutes later. And Paris Saint-Germain again conceded defeat by two goals to one.
But the worst thing is that now PSG is five points away from top spot, because, three hours prior to this, Lyon had succeeded in winning again, 1-0 at home against Montpellier.
Maybe Ancelotti is not the best man for the job, in Paris, after all.
(No wonder speculations keep popping up, with the name "Jose Mourinho" at the center of it all.)
See highlights here.
The Parisians were looking better than the team from the south of France for most of the match, but then, with 13 minutes left, Eric Bautheac put the outsiders in front, after atrocious PSG defending in their own penalty box.
Ibrahimovic's genius free kick tied the score, five minutes later, but that proved to amount to nothing because Eysseric volleyed the ball into the net from close range, after a Bautheac cross, four minutes later. And Paris Saint-Germain again conceded defeat by two goals to one.
But the worst thing is that now PSG is five points away from top spot, because, three hours prior to this, Lyon had succeeded in winning again, 1-0 at home against Montpellier.
Maybe Ancelotti is not the best man for the job, in Paris, after all.
(No wonder speculations keep popping up, with the name "Jose Mourinho" at the center of it all.)
See highlights here.
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